When Everything Changes History Can Be Rewritten
by Reese M
Summary: River has finally earned her pardon and is free to live her life with her Doctor, her family, with all of time and space to do it in. Things change for River and the Doctor but are those things enough to rewrite history? It's an adventure finding out.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: I don't own Doctor Who, I simply use the characters in my writing for my own enjoyment and hopefully the enjoyment of my readers. This is of course a fan produced work of fiction and therefore some things will not be cannon but I will be trying to keep it close. Takes place after series/season six. So if you haven't seen six yet... Spoilers. This is my first go at a Doctor Who fic, and do forgive my Americanness ahead of time, ta. :)

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><p>She moved though the kitchen silently, filling the kettle with water and switching it on, moving to the cupboard and pulling down a mug before retrieving her favorite tea from the pantry. She moved about as if she were in her own kitchen, in her own home. Truth was she didn't have a home of her own, especially now that she had been released from Stormcage. For River Song home was the people in her life, not a place. When she was with the Doctor the Tardis was home, and when she was with her parents their house in Leadworth was her home. For the past several weeks she'd been with the Doctor, traveling, exploring, having grand and wonderful adventures. She was free, having finally earned her pardon, and she and the Doctor had celebrated. Oh how they'd celebrated. They were meant to still be celebrating, but something had happened and River needed a little space from her beloved Doctor to think things through. So she'd come here, to make herself some tea and sit awhile in the warm comfort and welcome silence of her parents' house in the middle of the night.<p>

As she waited for her tea to steep River stood by the back door looking out at the dark back garden, her thoughts lost to the events that lead her here. She was so lost in her thoughts and emotions she hadn't heard the creaks that singled movement upstairs, or the sound of feet on the stair.

"River?" Amy said softly from the kitchen doorway.

The curly haired blonde jumped in surprise at the soft, yet sudden voice of her mother. Turning she looked at redhead and smiled softly. "I'm sorry, Mother. I didn't mean to wake you. I thought I was being quiet."

"You were." Amy reassured her daughter as she came further into the kitchen. "I didn't wake up because I heard you. I woke up because, well, I guess I sensed you down here."

River smiled softly again as she watched Amy get her own mug and make herself some tea. Even before Amy knew who she was, who she truly was, there had been a bond between them. Young Amy, still so new to her companionship with the Doctor, had taken instantly to River. The two becoming close friends quickly. Of course it had all made sense once the truth was out, once Amy knew that River was her daughter Melody and that she had once been her best friend Mels. The connection between them hadn't happened instantly, it had simply just been there, and it always would be.

"Where are we?" Amy asked as she poured hot water into her mug.

"Three months since my release from Stormcage." River answered.

The red-haired Scottish woman turned with a look of surprise. "Really?"

River chuckled. "Really. Why so surprised?"

"It's been three months for us too." Amy replied. "That's very liner for us."

"Yes." River agreed as Amy carried their mugs to the kitchen table and sat down beside her. "I suppose it is."

Amy knew something was wrong, that River was troubled about something; she just needed the right moment to ask what that was. "So what have you and the Doctor been up too since you left?"

River was quiet for several long minutes before finally replying, "Oh you know me and the Doctor, lots of flirting, lots of running."

"What happened River?" Amy asked after seeing a flash of something in her daughter's green eyes. "What happened with the Doctor?"

Again the curly haired blonde was quiet for a long time. She looked away from her mother's concerned gaze, her own searching the depths of her tea.

"River, talk to me." Amy demanded gently as she reached out and put her hand on her daughter's arm. "River."

"About six weeks ago we decided we wanted to go for a swim." River said softly. "So the Doctor set course for Lakeworld."

"But?" Amy said knowingly as she titled River's head up so they were looking at each other.

"The Tardis took us some place else." River said softly.

Amy's breath caught in her chest. She knew River could take care of herself and then some, but that didn't stop her from worrying. "Where?"

River took a deep breath before saying, "Gallifrey. Or, what's left of Gallifrey anyway."

"The Tardis took you to the Doctor's world?" Amy asked, not even trying to keep the surprise off her face. "Why? I thought it didn't exist anymore. I bet the Doctor was less then happy."

"It doesn't, not really, and yes he was rather cross." River admitted before answering her mother's question with another soft sigh. "I have Time Lord DNA. I'm the wife of a Time Lord. I'm the Child of the Tardis. She thought I should finally see it, the world of the Time Lords. It wasn't as he remembered. It will never see life again, never be Gallifrey again, but it's no longer a planet of total ruin. It was rather beautiful actually."

"And the Doctor?" Amy asked. "Is he ok?"

"A little rattled." River answered. "He could tell it was a sign, that she was trying to tell us something, but he hasn't figured it out."

River tried to duck her head but Amy continued to make her look her in the eyes. "But you have?"

River's troubled expression disappeared behind her trademark smirk and bright playful eyes. "Winston sends his love."

Amy blinked. She knew what River was doing but the sudden change in conversation still shook her a little. "Churchill?"

"You made quite the expression on him, Mother." River teased with a playful smirk. "He's very found of you. Then, I suppose the feelings are mutual seeing as how my little brother's middle name is Winston." She smiled fondly as she sipped her tea before asking, "How is Vincent? And Father?"

"They're fine, River." Amy answered. "Stop trying to change the subject. What was the Tardis trying to tell you by taking you to Gallifrey?"

This was one of the reasons why River had come home to her parents' house. Not just for the comfort and peace of the place, but for her mother, who never really let her slide by on things like this. "I didn't understand until last night."

"What happened last night?" Amy asked.

"We had dinner with Madam Vastra." River continued. "That bloody man of mine distracted me while Vastra and I were testing out a couple of her new swords. She got in a lucky strike, drew blood. I went back to the Tardis to patch myself up and there it was on the full body scan."

"There what was?" Amy asked, fear lacing her words as her eyes quickly sought out any visible signs of injury or illness.

River once again grew quiet, loosing herself in her thoughts. She hadn't said it out loud, not even to herself. Saying it out loud would make it real, and making it real would mean things were changing. Until recently their time lines had been off, they'd been moving opposite each other, but then her Doctor had been there to pick her up from Stormcage and she'd been with him ever since. Amy had been right about them being very linear lately, sure they were jumping around through time and space, but they'd been doing it together. They were experiencing things for the first time together.

"River?" Amy said as she tightened her hold on her daughter's arm. "River! Melody Pond answer me! What's going on? What's wrong? What did you seen on your medical scan?"

River looked up at her mother and replied, "He always wants to be a ginger. When he regenerates, he's always disappointed when he doesn't end up a ginger." She reached out to play with a strand of her mother's red hair. "I wonder if he'll be jealous if our child is a ginger. It's possible since its grandmother's a ginger."

Bright hazel eyes grew huge at her daughter's revelation. "River! You're pregnant?"

"About seven weeks." River confirmed. "After we attended Winton's victory party and before our unexpected trip to Gallifrey we spent several days just drifting in the vortex."

Amy had the brightest smile on her face as she said, "The Tardis showed you Gallifrey as a sign of hope, hope for your future, yours and the Doctor's and my grandchild's."

River nodded with a matching radiant smile.

"I bet the Doctor is over the moon!" Amy said, but then she saw her daughter's smile falter. "Oh. You haven't told him."

"There's never been a child, Mother." River said softly. "Not in my timeline, and he's never mentioned one in his."

"Spoilers?" Amy replied.

"I suppose so." River said with a sigh.

Amy wrapped her hands around her daughter's and squeezed tightly as she asked, "What does this mean, River?"

"That things are changing." River answered as she clung to her mother's hands. "A child means everything changes."

Amy's smile brightened once more. "That's how it always is River. Melody. My Melody; who changed everything, and changed it for the better you did."

"Really?" River asked softly, a flicker of uncertainty in her eyes.

"Of course really!" Amy said as she smacked her daughter lightly on the arm. "River, you're the best thing to come out of my time with the Doctor. Don't ever doubt that! Do I wish I'd gotten to raise you properly, yes. But would I change who you are now, never. You're my daughter, River, my little girl, and I love you. Never doubt that either."

River ducked her head a little and gave her mother a bit of a sheepish look. There were still moments when River did doubt things because of her past, because of the things she'd done, and how things had played out. "I love you too, Mother. I always have, even when you didn't know who I was, I loved you enough for the both of us."

Amy smiled. Unable to hold it in anymore she popped to her feet and pulled River into her arms for a hug. "I'm gonna be a Nan!"

"I hope the Doctor takes this as well as you." River said with a laugh as she returned her mother's embrace.

"You won't know until you tell him." Amy said as she pulled back enough to look into River's eyes.

"I will." River promised. "As soon as he figures out where I am and comes to get me. Using my vortex manipulator isn't a good idea while I'm pregnant, so I'm pretty much dependant on the Tardis for now."

Amy narrowed her eyes at her daughter as she took a step back and put her hands on her hips. "River Melody Song, what did you do with the Doctor?"

River's smile was mischievous and playful. "Oh don't worry, Mother. He'll be along."

Talking to her mother had allowed River to relax enough to get a few hours of sleep. When she woke up the next morning she found she wasn't alone. He was nearly two with their father's eyes and their mother's hair and the most amazing laugh she'd ever heard. Vincent Winston Williams was absolutely adored by his older sister. "Now how did you get all the way in here from your cot in your room?" She asked the sleeping boy as she brushed hair from his forehead. Vincent's reply was to snuggle closer to her. River watched him sleep for a few moments before whispering, "You're going to be an uncle." She laughed softly. "What a strange little family we are, Vincent. Our father's a Roman Centurion. Our mother grew up telling wonderful stories about her raggedy Doctor to her best friend, who just happen to be her daughter, but she didn't know that. You have an older sister who's older then our parents, who's married to an impossible man, a brilliant mad man in a blue box. And now a niece or a nephew who's going to be younger then you are. Quite the impossible, wonderful, brilliant little family."

With her little brother snuggled close River closed her eyes and drifted back to sleep for a few more hours. When she awoke for the second time it was with chubby little hands pressed to her cheeks and a tiny nose pressed against her own. When she opened her eyes bright blue ones were staring back.

"'Ello Sweeie." Vincent said when his sister's eyes opened.

River couldn't help but smile. "Hello my little love."

Vincent snuggled against his sister who wrapped her arms around him. After snuggling for a bit longer River got out of bed and headed downstairs with her brother on her hip, his little hand firmly in her hair and a look on his little face that dared anyone to take him from his River.

"Good morning." Rory greeted when his children walked into the kitchen.

River smiled as she walked over and kissed his cheek. "Good morning, Father."

Amy, who was sitting at the table, gave her daughter a look that said she hadn't told Rory the news. It hadn't been easy, she'd been bursting to tell him, both from the excitement of it and then the realization she would be a very young grandmother. But she figured it was something River would want to tell him, so she held her tongue.

"So, are you planning on telling me what's going on?" Rory asked as he set a bowl of porridge down in front of his son while he looked at his daughter. River gave her father a look that made Rory cross his arms. "I'm not as dense as you lot think I am. I know something's up. You're mother isn't the only one who worries about you."

"There's nothing to worry about." River reassured, but her father continued to give her that look that said he wasn't going to take anything less then the truth. "I'm pregnant."

The shock played out over Rory's face and for a good minute and half he just stood there staring.

"Father?" River said softly, worriedly.

"Oi! Rory!" Amy said as she punched him in the arm.

Rory shook out of his stunned silence and quickly moved to hug River, to reassure her. He didn't have to say a word because River knew. She knew that everything her mother had whispered to her the day she was born was true even now. He was the man who never let her down and he had in fact taken on armies for her, and River knew he would do no less for her child now too.

No they weren't a normal family not by a long shot, but they were without doubt her perfect family, and now there would be one more. One she never knew she'd wanted until now. Things were about to change, but her mother was right. They were about to change for the better.


	2. Chapter 2

It had been three days since River Song piloted the Tardis to her parents' back garden in Leadworth and then set the autopilot to take the Doctor to the planet Barcelona because she needed some space to think. River had sent him to a planet that he liked and would be relatively safe while still giving him a bit of an adventure; she just hoped he didn't come home with a noseless dog. Being home with her parents had helped a lot. Her initial fears and concerns about her unexpected pregnancy had faded; giving way to a bubbling of excitement and a kind of happiness she'd never known before. She was still worried about telling the Doctor, but as her father had reminded her more then once, the Doctor loved her and in the end that's all that would matter.

River sat at the kitchen table with her little brother Vincent while they ate their lunches. She'd convinced her parents to take the afternoon to spend some time together, so she was watching Vincent for them. River loved spending time with the boy. He'd brought so much love, happiness and joy to their family and she was thankful for that. She was so relived and so happy that her parents would get the chance to raise a child the way they'd missed out on with her. Even the little sprigs of jealously that bubbled up from time to time over Vincent getting the life she'd been denied helped her to feel closer to the boy.

While they ate River was telling Vincent all about the Doctor's robotic dog K9 when the back door suddenly flew open. Bright green eyes widened in surprise as River's instincts kicked in and she went for the gun at her hip. Her parents didn't like guns in the house, but River was River and she always had some type of gun on her. Thankfully she stopped herself from drawing it out of its hiding place because she didn't think having a gun pointed at him would help.

"River Song!" The Doctor bellowed. "Melody Pond!" He glared at his wife. "That! Was! Rude!"

River simply smiled sweetly. "Hello Sweetie."

"Don't hello sweetie me!" The Doctor huffed crossly. "You hijacked my Tardis and then sent me off to what could have been my doom!"

Bright green eyes rolled as River began cleaning up Vincent who was looking up at the Doctor waiting to be noticed. "I sent you to Barcelona dear." River said. "You like Barclona. It's like taking a child to a pet shop."

The Doctor continued to glare. "Yes, but you sent me during breeding season! Do you know how many noseless dogs humped my leg!"

"Doctor!" River scolded as she picked her little brother up and set him on her hip. "We have little ears in the room."

The Doctor blinked and for the first time took in more then just River's presence. "Oh. Well. Yes. Hello Vincent Winston Pond."

"Williams." River corrected her husband.

The Doctor waved it off.

Vincent gave the Doctor a smile that was a tiny little copy of his sister's as he said, "'Ello Sweeie!"

River's smile was beautiful as she cuddled the little ginger boy. Her heart sang softly in anticipation of cuddling her own sweet little baby in her arms this way one day soon. She much preferred this feeling to the one that would hit her when she realized that any child of the Doctor's, any child of hers, would forever be in danger from this threat or that. That feeling she tried like hell to smoother and keep at bay. "I'm going to put him down for his nap." She told her husband. "You can continue scolding me when I come back."

The Doctor huffed as he dropped into the chair River had vacated. Without even really thinking about what he was doing he helped himself to River's lunch. He was brooding so deeply that he didn't even realize he was eating fish fingers and custard until he'd eaten all of the fish fingers. When he felt that slight little pang of sadness over the fish fingers being all gone, it hit him that he was eating fish fingers and custard. He blinked as he looked down at the empty plate and nearly finished bowl of custard. When River returned he looked up at her oddly. "River, were you eating fish custard?"

River frowned as she crossed her arms over her chest and leaned against the counter across from the Doctor at the table. "Yes."

"River." The Doctor said as he titled his head in an inquisitive way. "You hate fish custard. You won't even let me eat it when you're in the Tardis."

"Because it's down right disgusting." River said as she began cleaning up her parents' kitchen, no long able to stand still. She knew that strange cravings came with pregnancy, but she didn't know it would happen so soon, or that it would be such a strong craving. She'd tried eating normal things, and a few not so normal things, but with each new taste the craving got worse, so she finally gave in to fish fingers and custard.

The Doctor stood up and started walking around River, circling her. "Then why are you eating it? And why did you send me away like that?" He wasn't a stupid man, perhaps a little naive at times, perhaps a little immature at times, but he wasn't stupid. He knew there was something going on and he knew it had something to do with River. He reached out and grabbed hold of her arm to stop her from moving around and then pulled her close. "River?"

River's concerns, worries, and even a little fear caused her to revert to her automatic self defense tactic; flirting. "Doctor." She purred as she stepped closer to him, so close their lips were nearly touching.

"What's going on, River?" The Doctor asked.

"Nothing at the moment." River replied as she wrapped her arms around his neck. "But Vincent will be asleep for at least two hours and my parents are out for the afternoon. I'm sure we can make something happen until then."

His body reacted to hers as she pressed her lips to his while closing any distance there might have been between their bodies. The Doctor returned the kiss without hesitation. It had been three days since he'd seen her after all. When the kiss ended he looked into her beautiful eyes, "River?"

River sighed. She pressed her forehead to his and closed her eyes. She listened to the sound of his two hearts beating, such a comforting sound for her. She was quiet until she could hear her own heart beat syncing with the sound of his. Their hearts beat in time and it was beautiful and for River held so much meaning as she gathering all her courage. Looking up into his eyes, green but a different shade of green then her own. His were darker; hers had a touch more blue, and his eyes, his eyes were so much older. "Have you figured out why the Tardis took us to Gallifrey?"

The Doctor was still for a moment before saying, "To show us that things change."

River smiled and nodded. "Things change and from that change there are new beginnings." River paused for a moment; she even bit her lip as she gathering her thoughts. "I think she wanted to show us that because she knew."

"She knew what?" The Doctor asked as he reached up to caress those lovely blonde curls from River's face.

"That we were about to get a new beginning." River answered. "That everything was going to change for us. I think she knew long before I did."

"Knew what, River?" The Doctor demanded gently. "What's changing?"

River took a deep breath. "Oh my love." She said softly as she cupped his face on her hands. She looked into his eyes for a long moment before finally saying, "I'm pregnant."

It took a moment. The Doctor wasn't sure he'd heard what he'd just heard. "You're… You're…" The Doctor stuttered. "You and me? We… Did… and now you're…"

"Breathe, Sweetie." River said calmly as the Doctor began to hyperventilate.

The Doctor's eyes were wide, kind of like a shared animal's would be, as he stared at River in utter and complete shock. He continued to babble, saying simple words, and never really getting close to a complete sentence. Finally after what seemed like forever his first real thought was to point at her still flat stomach and say, "There's a baby in there?"

River couldn't help but laugh. "Yes darling there's a baby in there."

"Are you sure?" The Doctor asked, his eyes narrowing slight.

"I did the medical scan myself." River answered. "I'm absolutely sure."

The Doctor swallowed hard, his eyes still much to wide. He ran his hand through his hair as he repeatedly licked his lips and scratched at his cheek in that funny little way he had. "Did you know?" He finally asked her. "Did you know this would happen? Is this in your diary somewhere? Because it's not in mine." Then he stopped to think. "No, no you didn't know. That's why you came here and why you sent me away. It totally took you by surprise too. Ha! I'm surprised. I'm never surprised but I'm surprised. Surprised. Shocked. This shouldn't be possible, it shouldn't be happening, but it is, it's happening. It happening and that means… That means…"

"For the first time ever something is happening to us at the same time, the very same moment. Not your past, or my past, but our future." River said with a knowing nod. "Things are changing Doctor."

"Our time lines are converging!" The Doctor said as he sank into the kitchen chair only to spring from it a second later. "How can that be? How can that happen? Everything from this point on will be different! Everything will be rewritten!" He stopped his pacing to look at her, a new flicker of hope in his eyes. "Fixed points may no longer be fixed!"

"What fixed points?" River asked as she watched him bounce around.

The Doctor laughed, covered his mouth to stop the sound, and then said. "Spoilers!"

River just smirked and rolled her eyes as she shook her head slightly at the silly, impossible man she loved so very much.

"River!" The Doctor said, his voice giddy. "A baby! My baby! Your baby! Our baby!" Then his giddiness faltered and some of the realities River had thought of came to light. "Oh, oh, my… ours… Our baby, you and me, and we're… Oh no, no, no, no, no… River!"

"I know." River said softly as she stepped closer to him, taking his hands into her own. "The child of the Doctor, the child of River Song, a new Time Lord; there will be dangers, there will be threats." She smiled softly. "But Doctor, the child of the Doctor, the child of River Song. He or she couldn't be safer. They've all seen what you do for those you love, and yet there will be some stupid and foolish enough to try but even they'll know that in the end we'll do whatever we have to too keep our child safe."

The Doctor nodded as he pulled his wife close. He wrapped his arms around her and buried his face in her hair. His River, his amazing River, who'd chased away his loneliness, who was always giving him what he needed even when he didn't want to admit he needed it, was giving him a child, a second chance. Or was it his third? He'd lost count. All he was sure about right now was that he loved this imposable woman and all the wonderful chaos she brought to his life.

River relaxed into her Doctor's arms and then kissed him. He'd taken this a lot better then she'd expected. She'd expected a long-winded rant about poking holds in the universe and ripping up the fabric of time, followed by a massive cosmic ADHD fit. She was glad she'd been wrong. When they broke apart the Doctor wanted to take her to the Tardis to run a medical scan to make sure she and the baby were all right, but she couldn't leave Vincent alone in the house so the Doctor settled for repeatedly scanning her with his sonic screwdriver. The more he did this the more it became real. River could see his mind working, she could see the thoughts racing and tumbling about, so when she came back from checking on her brother she wasn't surprised to find the Doctor and the Tardis gone. She had had her space and time to deal, so now she would give him his.

Alone, drifting in the vortex, the Doctor could admit that he was a selfish bastard. He could have easily gone back to any point in time and retrieved Melody Pond and brought her back to her parents, but he hadn't and one of the reasons why was because he didn't want to loose River. If he had changed her life as Melody, she would never have become River Song, his River Song. So many companions, so many friends, so many loves, but none of them could hold a candle to River. He felt, and again this was him being a selfish bastard, that she had literally been made just for him. He had been alone for so long, the last of a long dead people, and then River came to be and he was no longer alone. River had finally healed that last sting of loneliness that none of his other companions could quite touch. Rose had come close, and he still loved her, but not the way he loved River. He loved that madding woman more then he'd loved even his first wife. River understood him in a way his first wife never did. River was like him, not just because she had Time Lord DNA, but in personally and spirit. She wasn't satisfied with living and exploring within the bounderies; she lived for the adventure, just like him. River would have helped him steal the Tardis, she would have gone with him.

Of course he'd loved his first wife, he'd loved their children, and their grandchildren. The Doctor sighed at their memories, a wave of sadness, guilt, and grief washing over him as he remembered them. But that was so very long ago, and he'd been for all intents and purposes a teenage father, so young, so immature, so unwilling to completely give what needed to be given of him self. This time it would be different. He would be different. He would be a better husband to River and a better father to their child.

He wouldn't be the only thing that would be different for this child. This child would know dangers and threats that his other children never had to worry about. When his other children were young Gallifray hadn't yet began its long journey to destruction. They'd all been adults when the Time War happened. He had tried, oh how he had tried, to save them. Of course he hadn't, he had failed. He wouldn't fail again. He had failed them, he had failed Jenny, but he would not fail this child, River's child. Of course this meant he'd have to do things, things he normally wouldn't, but standing in the control room of the Tardis, floating in the vortex, he was making a vow; a vow to himself, to River and to their child that he would do whatever he had to do too keep their child safe.

Cardiff. It had been a very long time since he'd been to Cardiff, but what he needed to give him just a little peace of mind was here. There would be dangers that he and River couldn't predict, wouldn't see coming, but there were a few they knew would becoming as soon as word got out. They would handle any and all dangers together, but there was one he didn't want River or Amy or Rory to have to think about. The guilt over Demon's Run and everything tied to it was almost crushing. He wouldn't put them through that again, even if it meant crossing his first line.

There was no need for the Doctor to going looking for him. He knew that the moment the Tardis landed he would know and he would come to find him. And it didn't take long for him to do so. The Doctor felt him coming long before he saw him. The man, because of what he was, always caused this prickly itchy something crawling over his skin feeling.

"Doctor." The tall dark haired man in the brilliant old military coat said as he walked towards the Tardis.

"Jack." The Doctor said as he looked up. He could tell Jack was looking him over carefully. Jack hadn't seen him since his last regeneration.

Jack smiled. "Love the bowtie."

"You should see me wear a fez." The Doctor said with a slight smile of his own.

"Just a fez?" Jack asked, his voice teasing and flirty. The Doctor blushed and fidgeted with his bowtie, which made Jack smirk. He could have a lot of fun with this Doctor, he could tell.

"I don't think River would like that." The Doctor said. "And you really don't want to make River angry. She's all hair and flirting and guns and brilliance and she drives me completely insane, and she likes shooting things, especially pretty things, like fezzes and cowboy hats."

"You think I'm pretty?" Jack teased before asking, "Who's River?"

The Doctor looked right at Jack as he said. "She's my wife."

Jack didn't even try to hide his surprise, or the flicker of disappointment in his eyes. "You're wife? You got married?"

The Doctor simply nodded.

"She must be some woman to get you to marry her." Jack said after a long moment where he watched a flicker in the Doctor's eyes that he'd never seen before, and it had nothing to do with them being new eyes. "Congratulations Doctor. I'm happy for you."

"Thanks Jack." The Doctor said, smiling and bouncing back and forth on the balls of his feet. Then he turned somber again as he said, "I need your help, Jack."

"Anything for you, Doctor." Jack said without hesitation. "You know that." A flash of guilt crossed Jack's face before he said, "Doctor, about Demon's Run…"

"You had your hands full." The Doctor said brushing it off. "Miracle Day. Well done with that by the way." He added as he clapped Jack on the shoulder. "Though I'm not happy about the new anomaly, but I'm not here about that. Like I said, need your help."

"Did it all work out?" Jack asked, relief washing over him that the Doctor wasn't upset that he couldn't make it to help him, and that he hadn't asked more about Rex. "Did you find your friend and her baby?"

"I did, kind of, eventually." The Doctor said with a smile. "And I married her. The baby, not my friend, well, no, not the baby, the woman the baby grows up to be. Melody Pond, River Song, my wife." He paused, his whole face lit up as he added. "The mother of my soon to be child."

Again Jack didn't brother hiding his surprise. "You've been busy." He smiled when the Doctor's blush returned. "Oh I like this new regeneration." And not just because he was fun to tease, but because for the first time since meeting the Doctor there was something in his eyes other then guilt and regret, sadness and loneliness. "A baby? Wow. Must be something in the water."

The Doctor gave him a questioningly look.

"I have a daughter." Jack said with a silly grin. "It's a long story, a reality hiccup. So, you mentioned something about a favor?"

The Doctor hesitated. Jack had a new daughter? Did he have the right to ask Jack to do what he wanted to ask him to do?

"It's alright." Jack said after seeing the emotion play out in the Doctor's eyes. "I know that look, Doctor. That look that says you'd do anything to protect your child, even the hardest things. She's with her Mum, and older half sister, and a step-Dad that loves her as if she were his own. I'm just good ol' Uncle Jack. What do you need me to do so you don't have to be just good ol' Uncle Doctor?"

The Doctor looked at Jack, really looked at him. He was a different man, a good man, a man who would do what needed to be done, even the hard things. It kind of made the Doctor feel like a coward, but he needed this done and he couldn't do it himself. "Do you remember the Silence?"

"I've been killing them for years." Jack said with a nod. "There aren't many left, but I still come across them from time to time."

The Doctor nodded. "They're not much of a threat these days, nothing River and I couldn't handle, but there's still one person, one woman I don't want River to have to worry about."

Jack understood perfectly what the Doctor was asking him to do and he'd do it no questions asked. "What's her name?"

"Madam Kovarian." The Doctor answered. He felt a twinge of concern about what he was doing, a moment of hesitation, but he knew that if he didn't take care of this River would. He couldn't let that happen, he couldn't let River go after Kovarian, nor could he let Amy or Rory. Amy had been torn up over killing a Kovarian that hadn't really existed, she wouldn't be able to handle doing it for real, but to protect her daughter and her future grandchild she would, and the Doctor didn't doubt that one bit. He would do it himself, but it would take time to hunt her down, and that was time he wanted to spend with River.

"Consider it done." Jack said. "On one condition."

The Doctor bristled a little, his lip twitching into a frown as he said, "What condition?"

"Hold on to what you've been given and never let it go." Jack replied. "I've known you a long time, Doctor. I've never seen you so…"

"Yeah." The Doctor said with a smirk. "Yeah, I know, and I agree to your condition. So are we good?"

"We're good." Jack said with the brightest smile yet. A real smile that said he was happy for his friend and wanted only the best for him. "I can't wait to meet this woman of yours."

Oh now that was a scary thought. River and Jack in the same room together? The Doctor could already feel the burn of a full body blush. The Doctor simply nodded, reached out for Jack's arm and used his sonic screwdriver to unlock his vortex manipulator. Then he got back into the Tardis and headed for Leadworth.

River was starting to worry. The Doctor had been gone for days. Maybe he hadn't taken the news of the baby so well after all. She was sitting on her parents' couch, curled up and looking out the front window. She knew about his children on Gallifray, she'd even met his granddaughter Susan once, and she knew about Jenny, so River understood that the Doctor had a lot to work through. She just missed him, and was worried about him, and hormonal. She knew the Doctor would come back, and that they were truly in this together, but she couldn't help the tear that rolled down her cheek. She was scared.

The way River wiped quickly at her cheek let Rory know that she was hoping no one would notice, but he was her father and he noticed. He walked over and sat beside her, pulling her into his arms and holding her tight. "He'll come back."

For a moment, a brief second, River's instincts were to pull away. She didn't do vulnerable easily. But then she relaxed and gladly accepted her father's comfort and allowed herself to enjoy the embrace. "I know."

Rory didn't say anything more, he didn't need to; he simply sat there and held his little girl for as long as she needed him too. He held her until they heard the all to familiar sound of the Tardis in the back garden. Rory watched his daughter's face light up before she slowly sat up. He could tell she wanted nothing more then to spring to her feet and dash for the garden but she was River Song, and River Song was graceful, coy, and always in control, even when she was gripping her father's hand as if it were some kind of anchor or lifeline.

"Hi honey I'm home." The Doctor said brightly as he walked into the living room a few minutes after they'd heard the Tardis.

River let go of Rory's hand so she could sit back and cross her arms over her chest. "And what sort of time do you call this?"

"How long have I been gone?" The Doctor asked as he took a few steps closer to the couch. Since he'd spent most of his time in the vortex he was unaware of how much time was passing outside of it.

"Five days." River answered as she glared at her husband.

The Doctor frowned. "I'm sorry." He said as he came closer. He hadn't meant to be gone so long. His remorse was written all over his face. "River, I didn't mean…"

"I know." River said as she relaxed a little.

The Doctor smiled. "I've brought you a present."

River raised an eyebrow as the Doctor walked over and sat on the coffee table in front of her. He held out a brightly wrapped box, the biggest brightest child like grin on his face. She loved that look, but that didn't mean she was going to let him off easy. "Should I open it now?"

"Of course!" The Doctor said cheerily as he continued to hold the gift out to her.

"Because I wouldn't want to pull something out of that box that might be inappropriate in front of my father." River said, a coy smile on her beautiful lips. "It isn't something like the gift you gave me on Caldor Four is it?" Her grin brightened as the Doctor began to squirm. "Oh! Is it something like that pretty little thing you gave me to wear on our wedding night?"

"River!" The Doctor squeaked, fully aware of Rory's eyes on him. He smiled nervously, scratching at his cheek and messing his hair the way he did when he was nervous or stressed. "Hello Rory the Roman. Excited about the news? Has River told you? Oh, wait, that might not be the best way to…" He snapped his attention back to his wife and the gift. "It's for the baby." He explained quickly. "I know it's early but I couldn't help myself."

River's smile shifted from teasingly hard to soft and giddy as she took the present from her husband's nervous hands. "Thank you, Sweetie." She said as she began to unwrap it. River opened the box and rolled her eyes with a soft but giggly moan.

"What is it?" Rory asked.

River pulled out a teeny tiny fez.

The Doctor beamed as he bounced to his feet. "It's a fez! A baby sized fez! Isn't it cool? Baby fezzes are cool!"

It was cute but River would never admit to that. She simply shook her head and laughed softly at her husband.

"River." Rory said softly from beside her. "Why don't you go up and show your Mum what the Doctor bought for her grandchild."

River looked at her father, surprised at his request. She looked between him and the Doctor for a moment and then asked simply, "Why?"

"Just do as I ask, River." Rory replied. He had that Last Centurion look on his face that made the Doctor a little more nervous and River more then a little unsure about leaving the room. "Now Melody."

She couldn't explain why but something about Amy and Rory using her name with that tone made River do as they asked with little to no fight. It was really bloody annoying! She looked between the two men again and then got up and left the room.

Once they were alone Rory stood up so he and the Doctor were face to face. "All sorted out now?"

The Doctor nodded. "Yes. It's all a bit scary and I haven't even started thinking of the ramifications this could all have, but yes, all sorted." The Doctor smiled and hooked his thumbs in the lapel of his tweed jacket. "I'm going to be a Dad!" Then the Doctor took a more serious tone. "I'm going to be there for them, Rory. I promise."

"Good." Rory said with a nod. Glad to hear it."

He really shouldn't have been surprised when Rory punched him, but he was. It hurt! "Ow! What is it with you Ponds and hitting me!"

"My little girl's a grown woman." Rory said.

"Yes I know!" The Doctor said as he rubbed his jaw.

"But I still don't like seeing her cry." Rory said as he got in the Doctor's face. "Don't make her cry again, Doctor."

"Oh." The Doctor said softly, his hearts breaking at the thought of making River cry.

"Oi! Rory!" Amy's voice came from the stairs as she and River made their way down them. "Don't kill him! He'll just regenerate and I don't want him trashing my living room!"

When the two Pond women came into the room the Doctor was still rubbing and working his jaw. "Father!" River gasped as she made her way over to her husband. "Did you hit him?"

"I did." Rory answered while looking at the Doctor.

"Its alright River." The Doctor said as something passed between him and Rory, a silent understanding that he would never make River cry again. "For once that was actually meant for me and not for a past or future me."

River looked once more between her husband and her father. She was a little unsure about what had happened, but she'd have to admit that she liked when her father stood up for her like that. It wouldn't have been hard to believe that had Amy and Rory raised her properly she'd have been a Daddy's Girl who was always butting heads with her mother. Thinking about the what-ifs of her past made her think about her present and her future again. Would this child be a Daddy's Girl or a Mummy's? Would he butt heads with his father or would he test his mother's practice every chance he got? Would he have his father's eyes or would she have her mother's hair? She knew without doubt he or she would be smart, and beautiful, and he or she would keep them on their toes. River just had this sense that she and her Doctor would continue to run, but now they'd be running after the little timey-wimey child who was about to come into their lives.


	3. Chapter 3

Tiny little laser blasts whizzed past them as they ran. Small, but sharp spears the size of cocktail forks rained down around their feet. They were running and she was giggling madly with the rush of it. She and the Doctor had been traveling since leaving her parents' home, but since finding out about the baby the Doctor had been playing it safe. It was cute, the way he was so protective of her and the baby, but it was also rather annoying. She was pregnant not a fragile china doll. So she took matters into her own hands, setting the coordinates to a planet full of orchards and fruit fields and then setting off. Of course River Song wouldn't just pick a fruit planet, she'd picked a fruit planet where tiny little warriors guarded the fruit. The Qubus were between twelve and fourteen inches tall, various shades of orange, yellow, and green with blue, black, or red spots, bipedal with long tails, and very bad attitudes. They were furiously protective of their planet's resources and had no problem attacking any who would try and take even the smallest fruit.

"You just had to have Ravian berries didn't you?" The Doctor huffed out as they ran towards the Tardis.

River just smiled as she used her blaster, set on a very low stun, to pick off some of their pursuers. It wasn't much of an adventure but it was more then the Doctor had been giving her lately and it felt good to run again. They were nearly to the Tardis, the Doctor's arms full of ripe, just picked fruits, when an orange Qubus with blue spots leapt at River who had her blaster in one hand and a cloth full of berries in the other. It bit her on the arm holding the berries, causing River to yelp in pain. Bloody little bastards had sharp little teeth. River's cry caused the Doctor to stop; he fumbled around with his load of ill-gotten fruits to free his right hand so he could reach for his sonic screwdriver. Flicking the device open he pointed it at the creature biting his wife and hit it with a sonic pulse that set it flying off.

"Thank you, Sweetie." River said brightly as they took off in a dash that ended with them barreling into the Tardis.

"I hope you're pleased with yourself!" The Doctor scolded as he closed and locked the door behind them. "You could have gotten us killed!"

Bright green eyes rolled as River made her way towards the other side of the control room and up the stairs that lead to the kitchen.

The Doctor continued to rant and scold as he darted around the control island in the center of the room, flicking switches, pulling levers and tapping at keys. The Tardis gave a little shudder and soft hum as she disappeared into the vortex.

A few minutes later River reappeared in the control room with a bowl of fruit that was shaped like strawberries, but were the size of a lemon, and bright eclectic blue on the outside and deep purple on the inside. "You're over reacting my love." She told the Doctor who was still fuming and muttering under his breath. "The Qubus aren't dangerous, they're just annoying."

"You were bitten!" The Doctor said as he turned towards his wife just in time to see River take a bite of her fruit as she draped herself over one of the jump seats. There was a small dribble of juice at the corner of her mouth that he felt the sudden urge to kiss away, but he was cross with her. There would be no kissing while he was cross with her.

"They're not venomous." River reminded him. When she saw that certain look flash in his eyes she couldn't help but smirk. Holding out the berry she'd bitten into she asked, "Want some?"

He walked over to her and gently took hold of her arm. There was a nasty looking bite on her forearm, which she'd covered with a clean cloth to stop the bleeding, and he just shook his head. "You need a doctor." He reached for the berry and popped into his mouth.

River smirked up at him as she reached up to wipe berry juice from his lips with her finger, and then she sucked the juice off her finger. "I have a Doctor."

"Not the Doctor." The Doctor said with a roll of his eyes and a slight shiver from what she'd done. "A doctor. You're going to need one anyway so we might as well find one now."

"I don't need a doctor." River protested. "Now or in the future. My parents will be with us when I have the baby. Father's a nurse."

The Doctor gave River a look that asked if she really wanted her father to deliver their baby.

River made a face. "Yes, I suppose that would be a little odd seeing as how he pales at the simplest mention of us having a sex life." She sighed softly. They'd been having this discussion for a while now. They could go to any hospital in any part of the universe, but the moment they did everyone and anyone would know about the brand new baby Time Lord slash Human Plus. It would be like sending out an innovation for trouble. Besides, River wanted to have the baby right here in the Tardis, who agreed with the idea because she hummed something softly.

"Oh!" The Doctor shouted as he slapped himself in the forehead. "Why didn't I think of that sooner!" He added, bringing River out of her thoughts to stare at him oddly. "Silly forgetful old Doctor." He said as he moved over to the Tardis phone. "Well, maybe not forgetful. I normally don't do this, especially after a regeneration, because it's all weird." He dialed a number and smiled over at his wife who was still looking at him oddly. "Hello! It's me!" He said when the line was picked up. Then he frowned. "The Doctor." He paused. "Oh, yes, yes, right, right, new voice." He paused again. "So, big, huge, old ancient head in a jar. Still think it could be Jack?" Another pause, the Doctor's frown turning quickly into a smile as he gave a little happy wiggle. "See! I told you it was me. The Doctor. So, are you still a doctor? Good. Where can I pick you up?"

Like Jack, he hadn't seen her since before his last regeneration. Standing outside the Tardis on a street corner in London, he wondered what it would be like to see her again. He had to admit he was a little worried. He'd been so tied up in himself back then that he hadn't seen what was right in front of him, and he ended up hurting her. The Doctor sighed softly. He always ended up hurting them, but what he was starting to finally understand is that hurt comes along for the ride sometimes. When you love someone, when you call them a friend, hurt is always kind of lurking around in the background just waiting. When he saw her he couldn't keep the smile off his face. "Martha Jones."

"Hello Doctor." Martha greeted as she moved in to give him a hug. "I never thought I'd see you again."

"Well, here I am." The Doctor replied as he returned her hug a little awkwardly.

"I thought," Martha said softly. "When Mickey and I saw you. We thought you were saying good-bye."

He sighed as he hugged her tightly. "I was."

There was a long moment of silence. Then Martha stepped back from him. She smiled as she reached up to touch his face. "Look at you."

"Please don't call me a baby." The Doctor said with soft huff of annoyance "The last two companions I saw like this called me a baby." Then he blushed. "I really shouldn't have called Jo old in return though, that was rude."

Martha blinked at the rapid-fire way the Doctor spoke and then laughed softly. "I guess something's don't change."

The Doctor smiled. "New man, same Doctor." His smile brightened as he opened the Tardis door. "After you Doctor Jones."

"Wow." Martha said as she stepped inside and looked around. "Even the Tardis is different." Martha stepped up on the control platform, taking it all in.

The Doctor nodded as he closed the door behind them. "She regenerated too."

River watched from where she was standing as the Doctor followed the woman inside. Of course she knew who Martha Jones was. She knew who all of the Doctor's companions were. She'd even met a few, but there were a couple that she was a little wary of because she knew that at some point they'd all had feelings for him. River Song had a bit of jealous streak despite knowing that the Doctor was hers now and forever. Martha was on that list, though low on the list compared to a few others, so she was being a little more guarded then usual.

"I like it." Martha said before turning to the Doctor and smiling. Then she said, "So you said you needed a doctor?"

"Well not me." The Doctor said as he moved around Martha and towards River. "Her."

Martha finally caught sight of the curly haired blonde woman who was standing at the control island, leaning against it on her hip with her arms crossed, looking as if she belonged here, as if this were her space rather then the Doctor's. "Oh." She said softly. "Hello. You must be the Doctor's current companion. I'm Martha Jones." She gave River a warm smile that faded a little. "Oh that's a nasty looking bite on your arm."

River made a noise in the back of her throat that made the Doctor nervous. "Um, no, Martha, she's not my companion. Well, not in the true sense of The Doctor's Companion. I mean she is a companion, she does travel with me, she's absolutely brilliant on adventures, but she's not just a companion, no, she's more, she's, well, she's…"

"His wife." River said, putting an end to the Doctor's little rant.

The Doctor nodded. "Yes, yes, wife, mine, she is. Brilliant right? Me, with a wife." He beamed a little, his smile a happy and proud one. "Martha Jones, River Song; River, Doctor Martha Jones."

Martha blinked. "Wife?" She repeated in disbelief. She looked between the Doctor and River, and then looked River over carefully, not even bothering to hide the fact that she was sizing the woman up. "Wow." She finally said. "You must be something special."

River smirked and the Doctor lit up even more. "She is." Then he cleared his throat and said. "She's also absolutely maddening. Sets off to a fruit planet and gets herself bitten when we could have just gone to a market for the bloody berries."

"Now where's the fun in simply going to a market, Sweetie?" River asked with a twinkle in her eye.

The Doctor huffed. "Got herself bitten by an Qubus."

Martha very carefully approached River. She'd been around long enough to sense a dangerous woman when she saw one, she just couldn't quite figure out why River felt dangerous to her. Unless she knew that Martha had once harbored feelings for the Doctor? That could be it. "May I?"

River looked Martha over just as carefully before finally holding out her arm.

"Medical bay still where it use to be?" Martha asked after looking over the bite. "This needs a little attention."

"No, it's moved." River answered. "Closer to the swimming pool. Follow me."

"If you'd stop jumping off tall buildings and cliffs and out of air locks, and landing in the pool the medical bay wouldn't need to be so close to it!" The Doctor called out.

River just smirked. "You love it when I do that."

The Doctor returned the smirk. "Yeah, I kinda do, but I shouldn't."

"You shouldn't like a lot of things I do, Sweetie." River said flirtatiously. Then she looked at Martha. "This way Doctor Jones."

Martha watched the exchanged and couldn't help but smile. The way his face lit up, the life in his eyes, she'd never seen that before, not even during that last adventure when he'd been with Rose again. Once they were in the medical bay and River was sitting on the exam table, Martha took a closer look at the bite and started cleaning it up a bit. There was some awkward tension between the women as they sat and worked in the silence, finally Martha looked up and said, "His wife huh?"

River nodded and was about to make a comment when she saw something flash in Martha's eyes and then wash out over her face, softening it. "You look almost relived."

"I am." Martha said as she tended to the wound on River's arm. "I worried about him. Always alone despite always having someone with him, never really letting anyone in, making friends but keeping them at arms length. I'm glad he finally has someone."

River smiled and relaxed. "It wasn't easy. The man's thick headed and impossible sometimes." River's whole face lit up as she added, "But oh is that man worth it."

Martha couldn't help but smile. "It's good to know he finally has someone who can balance him out a bit."

"We balance each other out." River said. She looked at the bite on her arm and laughed. "Clearly we both have a knack for finding trouble."

When the Doctor walked in the two women were laughing. "Oh good!" He said with a clap of his hands and a smile. "You two are getting along. That's going to make the next few months so much easier!"

Martha raised an eyebrow as she finished the bandage she was wrapping around River's stitched up arm. "Next few months?"

"Yes." The Doctor said as he moved a monitor over. "Forty weeks is normal for a human, fifty-two weeks, Earth time, for a Time Lord. There's really no way to tell just yet which way this will go. Amy carried for forty-two weeks, but that could just be because River was stubborn and not because she's Human-Plus."

"Or smart given the circumstances." River threw in. "It was safer in there!"

"Yes, quite true." The Doctor said after a moment of thought. Then he turned to Martha who had a stunned look on her face. "What? Oh! I forgot to mention that didn't I! River's pregnant."

"Yours?" Martha asked him, still looking at him as if she were in shock.

The Doctor looked insulted. "Yes it's mine!"

Now Martha looked confused. "Are Humans and Time Lords even compatible that way?"

"Well, no." The Doctor said. "But River isn't Human, she's Human Plus. Didn't I say that already?"

"Plus?" Martha asked. "Plus what?"

"Time Lord." River answered, and then explained. "My parents were the Doctor's companions, still are kind of, anyway, I was conceived on the Tardis in the time vortex. I'm Human, but my DNA was hybridized, mixed with Time Lord DNA."

Martha's eyes went three times their natural size. "Oh my god." She breathed out. "You're Human and Time Lord?" She watched River nod her head, causing her hair to bounce. Martha's whole face lit up then. "You really are perfect for him, aren't you?"

River just gave her a warm smile while the Doctor thought about that and then smiled himself. River was perfect for him, in so many ways.

"Well, congratulations you two." Martha said as she hugged the Doctor.

After Martha agreed to be River's doctor she looked over the scans the Tardis had been taking and was able to figure that for now it looked like River was having a normal human pregnancy. To which River informed her that there was nothing humanly normal about craving fish fingers and custard. Once Martha was finished looking grossed out, she promised to come back in a few weeks to check in and then bid her new friend and the Doctor goodbye before leaving to find her own husband. Mickey wasn't going to believe this!

The Doctor felt more at ease knowing a proper human doctor would be looking after River and the baby, and because he knew that with Martha and Mickey in the loop that was two more people out there to help keep their child safe.

"Chocolate." River said as she made her way to the control island.

"Hmm?" The Doctor said when the sound of River's voice brought him out of his thoughts.

"Chocolate." River repeated as she tapped at the keyboard, setting the next set of coordinates. "I need chocolate for my berries."

"River." The Doctor warned.

River's smile was bright and her brilliant green eyes were twinkling. "Olmec, Mayan or Aztec? Which had the best cocoa beans?"

"Oh, no Aztecs, bad bad experience with them." The Doctor said with a shudder. Well not all bad. There had been those moments in the garden with Cameca, but he didn't think bringing that up to River, his wife, his hormonal likes to shoot things wife, was a very good idea.

"Mayan it is." River said as she flicked a couple of switches and pulled a couple of levers, sending the Tardis into the vortex and through time to the height of Mayan civilization.


	4. Chapter 4

It should have been a simple dinner party at the Queen's palace in New Britain, circa the fifty-second century, but of course when the Doctor and River Song were involved nothing was ever simple. River had wanted to go out for a night on the town while she still fit into her evening gowns, so the Doctor had accepted an invitation from Liz Ten to a party she was throwing in honor of her son Henry's birthday. Everything had started out just fine. Liz had been over the moon when she'd found out about River being pregnant. Apparently the two had become fast friends after Liz had busted River while she was stealing Van Gogh's painting of the Tardis exploding. Liz had even helped get River her pardon. Of course helping save the warden's twin sons from a rabid pack of saberwolves went a long way in getting River her pardon as well.

Everything had been going well until the palace suddenly shook from an explosion. Soldiers from New France came storming in just as the Doctor and River slipped out a back door. It was River who noticed that there was something odd about the soldiers, and sure enough the Tardis confirmed that they were all being mind controlled by some kind of alien force. After looking over the sensor readings in the Tardis, the Doctor and River looked up at each other and smiled. The Doctor put his top hat back on and held out his hand to his wife, "Shall we?"

"Oh yes my love we shall." River replied as she took his hand. As they ran out the door she managed to snag her blaster, the little gun she had hidden under her dress wouldn't be enough, plus she felt safer with her trusty old blaster and she was protecting a lot more then just herself and the Doctor these days.

"There's an amplified mental signal coming from somewhere." The Doctor said as he smacked his sonic screwdriver on the palm of his hand as if that would make it find the source of the signal faster.

River was looking around to make sure they were in the clear, her blaster in her hand and ready to be aimed. "I'd look for something mobile, a transport of some kind, something small, fast, and easy to conceal."

The Doctor looked up and asked, "Why?"

"Quick escape." River answered. "Soldiers are expendable, whatever, or whoever is controlling them isn't. So whatever is creating the signal is someplace mobile, concealed, and outfitted to broadcast."

The Doctor flicked his sonic screwdriver, pressed a few commands, and then smiled brightly. "You're brilliant."

River smirked smugly. "I know."

The two slowly made their way through the palace in their way to the roof. There was a small, cloaked shuttle hovering above the palace. The signal was coming from there. Voices coming down the hall made them stop. Pressing themselves up against a wall they listened. "The artifacts have to be here." One of the men said. "Once we have them and the boy we can leave."

"I don't understand why we're taking the boy." Another voice said.

"He's the only one who can work the artifact." The first voice said. "Besides, the French King wants him to marry his daughter to force an alliance. The only reason he agreed to let us use his men and the church site once we have what we need, was the promise of the boy."

The word artifacts had peeked River's interest. She was simply tingling all over at the thought of an adventure with her Doctor and the possibility of it being something archeology related. She actually shivered pleasantly at the thought.

"Are you alright, River?" The Doctor whispered after seeing her shiver.

"Oh Sweetie I'm more then all right." She purred as she stole a quick kiss before checking the hallway to see if they could move from their hiding place.

The Doctor blinked, looked confused for a moment, and then grinned like a silly idiot. River was getting all sexy and he liked it, a lot. But then his smirk faded and all his naughty thoughts went up in smoke when River spoke again.

"I think we should split up." River said as they moved down the hall. "You take out the signal coming from the shuttle and I'll see what I can find out about these artifacts."

"No way, River." The Doctor said with a shake of his head. "I'm not leaving you alone."

River gave him a gentle smile as she stopped to face him. "I'll be fine, Sweetie." She promised as she straightened his tie. "I'm not going to do anything risky because I'm not really going to be alone, now am I?"

"That's my point River." The Doctor said. "The baby…"

"And I will be perfectly safe." River reassured. "Now go on. Take out the shuttle and I'll meet you back by the court yard and we'll go back to warn Liz and Henry."

"River." The Doctor protested.

She kissed him, a long, deep kiss that took his breath away. When he opened his eyes when the kiss was over, River was gone. "Damn that woman." He muttered.

River knew the palace pretty well. The night Liz had caught her hadn't been her first time there. She knew where certain things were kept and a general idea of what was there and what wasn't. Now she just needed to figure out what artifacts the men were talking about. It could be anything from Winston Churchill's pocket watch to Victoria the Fourth's cryogenically frozen head. What she needed to do was find out what aliens were involved, that would help. If she knew what aliens were involved she could figure out their underlying goal, but then again didn't they all have the same goal? Conquest and destruction of Earth and or the universe and or time and or excreta; sometimes aliens could be so predicable.

She was just coming around a corner when something caught her eye. She wasn't the only one in an evening gown sneaking around the dark, empty halls of the palace. A young blonde woman had just slipped out from behind a suit of armor to dash down a fall hallway. It was the way the girl looked around, it was that quick, jerky way that said she was making sure no one saw her, that really peeked River's interest. River narrowed her eyes as she slowly made her way to the hall she'd seen the girl duck down. She knew a thief when she saw one, she was one once.

The blonde made her way through the palace towards a very special room that no one, or at least they thought no one, knew about except Liz and her heir, Henry. In this vault Liz's family had kept things they'd collected over the millennia that had to deal with other worldly things, and the Doctor type things. She knew about the room, the vault, and how to get into because she'd been dating Henry for a while now and had tricked him into telling her what she needed to know. She felt bad about leading him on but he had something she needed, or at least she hoped he did. She was acting on rumors and whispers, but she had to at least look.

The older blonde watched as the girl made her way to Liz's chambers and that's when it dawned on her that she must have been going to Liz's secret vault. She was almost on top of the girl when she heard voices again. River just managed to duck behind a tapestry as several heavily armored men walked by. River felt her stomach lurch as they passed her; there was an odor that was clearly not human coming from the group. She had to cover her mouth and nose with her hand to keep herself from throwing up. Of all the things to trigger morning sickness, leave it to River Song to be triggered by alien b.o..

"The soldiers not holding the hostages in the dinning hall are looking for the tablets and talisman." One of the men said. "They'll tear this place apart brick by brick if they have too."

Well that helped. Tablets and a talisman, now where had she seen something like that? River kept the question in her mind as she slipped out of her hiding place once it was clear and went back to following the girl. Sure enough when she stepped into Liz's room the wardrobe was open.

She'd giggled a little when she'd opened the back of the wardrobe and crawled into the hidden vault. It reminded her of a book she'd read once when she'd first found herself on Earth. After a few minutes of searching she found what she was looking for. It was a small cylinder type object that resembled a twenty-first century lipstick. She took the cap off and twisted, causing the emitter to come up and the little red light at the tip to come on. She smiled.

"That doesn't belong to you." River said as she pointed her blaster at the girl. "I happen to know the woman who that did belong too, and you're not her little girl."

The younger blonde turned around and by the time she was facing who had spoken to her she had her own weapon out. "I've been looking for something like this for a long time." She said. "I need this, and honestly I have more right to it then anyone, so I'm not letting anyone stop me from taking it."

"And I'm not about to let you steal Sarah Jane's sonic lipstick." River said, as she stared at the girl. She held out her free hand as she said, "So hand it over and I'll think about not turning you in."

The two women just stood there aiming their weapons at each other and staring unblinkingly into each other's eyes. There was something oddly familiar in the girl's eyes that River couldn't place, but she ignored that as she took a step closer. "Give me the lipstick."

"Not going to happen." The girl said.

River knew this palace well. She took another step, this one slightly off to the right, she flicked her aim slightly and shot at a rope over the girl's shoulder. A heavy bundle of cloth that River recognized as bindings from Osirian service robots came tumbling from the net that had been holding them, covering the girl in heavy strips of cloth. The suddenness of it caused the girl to drop the lipstick as the strips fell on her; River knocked the gun from her hand, and then the girl's feet out from under her. River snatched the lipstick and quickly wedged it in her cleavage before grabbing the girl's gun.

"Get up." River ordered, still pointing her blaster at the girl. "Move." She jerked her head towards the door. Once they were out of the vault River closed it and used her handheld computer to reboot the locks and change the pass codes. She'd have to remember to tell Liz about that later. By the time she turned back to face the girl, the girl was gone. "Damn it."

"River!" The Doctor called out when he saw his wife sneaking around a hallway.

River rolled her eyes. He never did quite understand the idea of being quiet while sneaking around. "Hello Sweetie."

"I couldn't get to the shuttle." He said with a pout. "I did manage to short out their receiver, but it's only temporary, hopefully it'll give Liz time to handle things in the dinning hall. Any luck with these artifacts they want?"

"I heard a couple more talking." River said as she continued to make her way towards the gallery Liz kept the ancient Greek and Roman collections in. "They're after tablets and an talisman. There's an old set of Greek tablets that if I remember correctly deal with Kronos and how to summon him. There's a matching talisman that is said to control him. Those are the only things I can think of."

The Doctor blinked. "How do you know this?"

River shrugged. "When I got bored in Stormcage, and you weren't around to play with, I'd come here, and a few other places, and have a look around. I'm an archeologist dear. This place is like a playground for me. It's like taking you to a hat shop."

The Doctor smiled, making a mental note to go to the hat shop soon, but then his smile faded quickly. "Did you say Kronos?" When River nodded he paled. "The Time Monster. The Master tried releasing him once a long time ago, back in my third regeneration. We need to find those tablets and destroy them."

"We're nearly there." River said. "I'd have had them a long time ago but I got side tracked."

"By?" The Doctor asked.

"Tell you later." River replied and then nodded her head towards a set of double doors. "See those doors? We need to get in there." A wicked grin appeared on River's lips because there were soldiers between them and the doors. "Be a dear and go unlock them for us."

"But River." The Doctor said a second before River strolled around the corner with that look on her face. He shook his head and sighed as his wife teased the soldiers before opening fire on them. With no one paying attention to the doors the Doctor ran over to them and used his sonic screwdriver to unlock them. He slipped inside and had a quick look around. Seconds later River walked in with a very satisfied look on her face.

"I do love the sound of armored men falling to a marble floor." She purred as she ran her gaze over the room and her fingers down the back of the Doctor's neck. "Now, where did I see those tablets?"

On the other side of the palace the young blonde had been distracted from her pursuit of the older blonde who had her sonic lipstick, by the sound of a scuffle and a familiar voice. She ran towards the sounds, running right into a group of soldiers trying to take Henry, who was doing his best to fight them off. Pulling her second gun she made quick work of taking out the soldiers. One by one they fell as she nailed each of them with a precision only someone born for war could master, their own shots never even getting close to her. Once that was finished she rushed over to Henry. "Are you alright?"

He stared at her with a mix of shock and awe for a long moment. "I didn't know you could do that."

She smiled at him. "There are a lot of things I can you do that you don't know about."

"Can't wait to find out what." Henry replied. Then they heard the sound of more soldiers coming, probably coming to check out the sound of gunfire. "Now what?"

She gave him the biggest, brightest smile that lit up her eyes. "Now comes the best part."

"What's the best part?" Henry asked, looking confused.

"The running." She said as she grabbed his hand and took off.

"River! The Doctor scolded as they ran down the hallway hand in hand, a group of human soldiers and what the Doctor know knew to be Bazaracks, chasing them. "When I said to destroy the tablets I didn't mean by using them to bash those soldiers heads in!"

"It worked didn't it?" River replied. Her heart was pounding and her feet were starting to protest all the running she was doing in heels, but she absolutely loved it, especially since she knew she wouldn't be able to do this in a few more weeks. This kind of thing was going to be rather difficult when she was large and swollen with their child. "The tablets crumbled to dust and setting the dust on fire with my blaster provided a nice smoke screen which gave us a way to slip past the others. All in all, well done me."

The two ran though a set of doors and the Doctor finally let go of River's hand so he could close them and lock them with his sonic. River continued moving, finding herself in an open courtyard. She was scanning the area, her blaster at the ready when the young girl from before and Henry came running out of the doors on the opposite side of the room. River raised her blaster. "You!"

The girl raised her gun. "You!"

"Doctor Song!" Henry breathed out in relief. "I'm so glad you're alright."

"You know her?" The girl asked Henry.

Henry nodded. "Of course I do. She's Doctor River Song, she's a friend of my mother's and she's the…"

"All clear." The Doctor said as he appeared behind River. He hadn't seen the other two people in the room, his focus on his wife. He placed one hand on the small of River's back and the other over her stomach. "Are you two alright?"

"We're fine my love." River answered without looking away from the girl or lowering her blaster, since the girl still had her gun on her as well.

The Doctor noticed River was staring at something and looked up to see what it was. For a moment it felt as if both of his hearts had stopped. It couldn't be her. She was dead. She'd died in his arms. Well, his old arms, but still. He stepped between her and his wife, staring in disbelief. "Jenny?"

She couldn't explain it but something inside told her that this man was who she'd been looking for even if he did look different. "Dad?"

"You're dead." The Doctor said as he took a step closer to her.

"You're different." Jenny replied.

"I regenerated." The Doctor said as he took her in. "You didn't. You didn't regenerate, you died."

Jenny shrugged. "I got better."

The Doctor pointed his sonic at her and scanned her. It was Jenny all right. He looked at her with confusion while he replayed everything in his head. Then his eyes went wide. "Stupid old me! Of course! You were still cooking! You didn't regenerate because you were still cooking! The old me was such a brooding idiot! I can't believe I didn't see it! You'd just been created, already in a new form, you were still within in the fifteen hour cycle!" The Doctor's excitement over figuring this out and seeing Jenny again faded a little when he realized Jenny was still aiming her gun. He looked over his shoulder to see she was aiming it at River. River had lowered her blaster when the Doctor said the girl's name, but she could and would aim again if she needed too, and the Doctor knew this. "Jenny would you kindly stop aiming your weapon at my wife."

Jenny's eyes went wide. "Wife?"

"Nice to meet you dear." River said to the girl. She knew about Jenny, he'd told her. They'd been on a war torn planet where children were being used as soldiers and it had made him so angry, that for a flicker of a moment he'd scared River. That's when he told her about Messaline, about the Human colonists, the Hath, and Jenny. Turning to address the Doctor she added, "I hate to bring an end to this little reunion but we have soldiers coming."

"Right!" The Doctor said as he clapped his hands and spun around. "Now what we need are a couple of those soldiers. While River was hitting them over the head I noticed a relay switch on their armor. If I can send back a strong enough reverb pulse it should knock out whatever and whoever is creating the signal. With the humans out of the way it'll be much easier to round up the Bazaracks. So, I need soldiers."

River smiled as she said, "You want soldiers? Coming right up my love."

The Doctor watched as River headed for the doors he'd sealed. He pulled out his screwdriver and said, "You might need this."

"Got my own, thanks." She replied as she pulled Sarah Jane's sonic lipstick from her cleavage.

The Doctor looked more then a little surprised. "Where did you get that?"

"She stole it!" Jenny said as the same time River said it, each pointing at each other.

"She was stealing it." River said crossly. "I took it from her."

The Doctor frowned. "Jenny?"

"I've been looking for you." Jenny explained. "I thought it would help me find you."

The Doctor was still frowning. "But what's it doing here?"

River walked back over to him and caressed his face lovingly. "It's the fifty-second century my love. It's an artifact now." Then she added softly, "She's been gone for a long time."

"Oh." The Doctor replied simply.

River gave him a soft, sad little smile as she caressed his cheek and then straightened his bowtie. "Now, about those soldiers." As she walked away she heard the Doctor tell Jenny to go with her and stiffened. "Doctor."

"To many on your own." The Doctor said. "Not taking any changes with you two. Jenny will watch your back."

She wasn't so sure about that but for once River didn't argue. It would just be easier to watch her own back, both against the soldiers and against Jenny. Using the sonic lipstick she unsealed the door the Doctor had sealed after listening to make sure the cost was clear on the other side. She opened it slowly, still checking. She moved into the hallway, blaster at the ready, Jenny beside her with her own weapon drawn. River knew this was to easy and so did Jenny, which is why after moving a few meters down the hall they weren't surprised when they found themselves being ambushed. Both of them smiled as they shifted until they were back to back.

The firefight lasted maybe two minutes and when it was all said and done, the air hazy from weapons fire, marble chipped, glass smashed, walls riddled with smoldering holes, River and Jenny were the only two left standing. Slowly they turned to look at each other, they're gazes raking over each other critically before they both said, "You're good," In unison before smiling at each other. Then River called out, "Doctor!"

The Doctor didn't waste any time rushing right over to River. "Are you ok?"

"Never better my love." She replied as she put her hand over his where it rested on her stomach. "So, will this be enough or do you need a few more?"

The Doctor looked around at the cluttered hallway full of fallen soldiers and shook his head. "More then enough dear thank you."

River and Jenny stood guard while the Doctor buzzed around the soilders' bodies using his sonic screwdriver to reconfigure the relays in their armor. The sight sort of reminded River of bees buzzing around a field of flowers and it made her smile as she watched him.

While River was watching for danger and the Doctor, Jenny was watching her. She'd been expecting to see Donna again, maybe even Martha, not someone new, and certainly not someone who was married to her father. Then she watched her father. He was different, and not just his looks and the way he acted, but in a deeper way. She couldn't explain it, she didn't really understand all this emotional stuff yet, but it was in his eyes, in the way he smiled, and in the way he interacted with River. It was a good thing, and she was glad he was good, but that didn't stop her from walking over to River and asking, "Where's Donna? And Martha? Did something happen to them?"

River looked at the girl and gave her a soft, sad smile. "They helped him save the world. Now they're home, living their lives."

"So they're ok?" Jenny asked.

"Martha's married. She and her husband Mickey are freelance alien hunters." River replied. She paused a moment before adding, "Donna's married and happy too."

Jenny smiled a little and then asked, "Can I see them? I'd like to see them again."

"We'll be seeing Martha soon." The Doctor said as he joined them. "If you come with us you'll see her."

"And Donna?" Jenny asked hopefully.

The Doctor shook his head and then said, "I really hope Liz doesn't get cross when that shuttle crashes."

That got Henry's attention. "Doctor?"

But the Doctor had already taken River's handheld computer from her, used his sonic on it, and then used the two to cause the feedback loop that would take out their uninvited dinner guests. A few very long minutes past and then they heard it, the sound of a shuttle falling.

River frowned. "Doctor, where exactly was the shuttle hovering?"

The Doctor didn't get a chance to answer. The windows and walls began to quiver and rattle. The four of them had just enough time to find cover, the Doctor covering River and Jenny with his own body, as the shuttle came crashing through the wall.

River was coughing from the dust and smoke as she stood up. There was rumble and glass everywhere. Her hair was coated in wall dust, as was her dress. She looked over at her coughing, sputtering husband with such a glare that he took a few steps back from her.

"Sorry." The Doctor said sheepishly.

With their human soldiers out of the game it was easy to pick off the Bazaracks, which the Doctor handed over to Liz Ten to deal with. River managed to find the talisman, which she pocketed. It would be safer and less trouble on the Tardis. The Doctor promised to pay for the massive gapping hole in the side of the palace, but Liz said she'd ways wanted to put in greenhouse and would handle it herself.

With the dinner party ruined the Doctor and River made their way back to the Tardis after bidding their friends goodbye. Jenny had talked to Henry, and was now lingering the background trying to figure out what next. The Doctor hurried to the Tardis and unlocked the doors before he turned to look at Jenny who was standing a few feet away. "Well, are you coming?"

"I don't know." Jenny answered honestly. All she'd wanted for a while now was to find her father and travel with him, but now she wasn't so sure. He had a new life with new people. Where did she fit into that? Was she still even his daughter? She'd been created from the DNA of his old body, so was this man still her father?

River walked over to her and said softly, "Give him a chance. Get to know him. I know he isn't the same man, but he's a wonderful man, one worth getting to know."

Jenny still looked unsure as she watched this odd new version of her father duck inside the Tardis. "Its all different now. He's different."

"He's still the same man in all the ways that truly matter. No matter how he looks or acts, at the core, he's still the Doctor." River said. "You went looking for him, Jenny. You must have had a reason. Don't let your fear get the better of you now."

"You wouldn't mind?" Jenny asked the older woman.

The Doctor stuck his head out the door then. "Oi! Will you two come on already!" His voice took on a hint of a whine as he addressed River. "If we don't check in with your parents soon they're going to send a squad of Judoon after us!"

"Coming darling!" River said before looking at Jenny. "Well?"

"You didn't answer my question." Jenny said as she looked up at the older woman. "You wouldn't mind me coming along?"

"You're a part of him." River answered simply.

Jenny was quiet for a few moments, thinking it all through. Finally she looked at River and smiled as she asked, "Can I have the lipstick?"

"No." River said with a smile as she headed for the Tardis. "Sonic devices are not for children, dear. Ask me again when you're older."


	5. Chapter 5

They could do normal things. A nice family holiday in Spain, on the beach, just relaxing and enjoying each other's company. That was normal right? River sat in a beach chair enjoying the warmth of the sun on her skin, one arm tucked behind her head, the other resting across the small baby bump at her middle. She could hear the Doctor off in the distance over explaining some theory no one but him cared about to Jenny and Vincent. As long as she could hear his voice she knew he was staying out of trouble, and by he she meant her husband not her toddler brother. A smile tugged at River's lips when she heard someone sit in the chair beside her. The best part of this whole trip was getting the chance to spend time with her parents and little brother. Of course no one knew they were her parents, they still looked younger then her, so they'd come up with a cover story for when people were around, but for right now they were on a private beach, no one but them around, and they could be who they really were.

"So how are things really going?" Amy asked as she set a frozen fruit juice drink down on the table between them for River while sipping on her own. "With Jenny and everything?"

"There was some adjustment." River said as she opened her eyes and turned her head to look at the redhead beside her. "It's a little strange having an adult sized child, but I think we're working it all out."

Amy snorted. "Welcome to my world, love."

River raised an eyebrow at the amusement in her mother's eyes.

"It's a little odd when your daughter is a grown woman who looks older then you are when in a normal world she'd still be a little girl." Amy said with a chuckle and then added, a little more seriously. "The instincts don't shut off just because your child is all grown up and can fight off large groups of armed aliens all on her own. It can get so frustrating watching you do some of the things you do. You have no idea how many times I've just wanted to throttle you."

River laughed at that. "I've noticed you get this certain look in your eyes from time to time." Turned to look at Jenny who was still with the Doctor and Vincent she said, "At least I got to be a child, I got to grow up and have experiences that normal children get to have. Jenny hasn't had that. She stepped into the world just as she is, grown; programmed to be a weapon in someone else's fight."

"Which is why she's very lucky to have you in her life now, River." Amy said. "You can understand her in ways no one else can."

There was a flicker of sadness in her mother's eyes that made River reach for her hand and give it a squeeze. She wondered if there would ever come a time when her past didn't cause her mother pain. The soft smile that Amy gave her in return let River know that it was a pain she was more then willing to endure because she loved her.

The moment between mother and daughter was broken when River slowly narrowed her eyes. There was something wrong, something not quite right. Then it hit her. It was to quiet. Turning back towards the water's edge where the Doctor, Jenny and Vincent had been she noticed that the Doctor was now missing. Getting up from her chair she headed towards her stepdaughter and little brother. "Where's the Doctor?"

Vincent pointed out to the water. "Doctor said there was a bad fishy."

"His screwdriver started beeping." Jenny explained. "He went in to have a look."

River rolled her eyes. She'd known deep down that a peaceful holiday was just too much to ask.

Several minutes passed and Amy was starting to get worried. She had Vincent on her hip to keep him out of the water. The little ginger haired boy wanted to go in and find his big brother-in-law. Like all the Ponds, Vincent was completely smitten with the Doctor. "Where is he?" Amy asked, her annoyance at her best friend as clear in her voice, as her daughter's was on her face.

"Where's who?" Rory asked as he joined his family at the water's edge. He'd been tasked with getting everyone lunch and had just returned with several large bags full of food.

"The Doctor." Amy answered. "He's been under there for a good five minutes."

Jenny turned to look at River. "Should I go in after him?"

"No." River said firmly as she took her hands from her hips so she could cross her arms over her chest. "Let him get himself out of whatever mess he's managed to get himself into."

"Five minutes?" Rory asked. "Can he hold his breath that long?"

"He's fine." River reassured her parents. He was fine until she got her hands on him that is. He promised a nice quiet day at the beach with their family. Hunting whatever it was he was hunting was not a nice quiet day at the beach.

When the Doctor did finally surface he was struggling with what looked like a very large starfish, though starfish didn't have the kind of long claw tipped tentacles this creature had. The Doctor was trying hard to keep the claws away from his face while struggling towards the shore. He let go of a tentacle long enough to snap his fingers and open the doors of the Tardis. The creature was strong, even out of the water, and it slammed the Doctor around a bit before he finally managed to get it inside. Moments after the Doctor slammed the doors closed the Tardis began blinking in and out of existence.

"Oh that bloody man!" River said with an angry huff.

"What was that thing?" Jenny asked as she stared at space where the Tardis had been.

"A star-squid." River answered. "They're from Xadorx Tau. No idea what's its doing here, but leave it to my husband to find the silly thing."

"Where did he take it?" Jenny asked as she followed River back to the lounge chairs. She loved learning new things and River knew lots and lots of new things for her to learn. So did her father, but she liked the way River explained things because she got right to the point, her father often took long winded detours.

"Most likely back to it's own planet." River answered. "From the looks of it, it was a juvenile. Adults have stingers as long as a broad sword and just as sharp."

Amy couldn't help but smile at the way Jenny hung on every one of River's words. River was going to be a good mother; Amy knew this without a doubt. Thought she could tell River herself wasn't so sure of it.

An hour later while helping Vincent build a sandcastle River heard the Tardis coming in. The Doctor, when out on his own, had been getting really good at coming back at the right time. Before he use to over shoot things by years, but now it was no more then an hour or two. River was pretty sure that this new ability to get the timing right was more the Tardis herself then the Doctor, but she wasn't going to fuss if it brought her husband home to her at the right time and place.

"Home safe and sound." The Doctor said as he bounced out of the Tardis. "Happy to be on his own world in his own waters again. Oh, is that lunch?"

"Yes." Rory said as he watched the Doctor and his daughter's reaction to the Doctor.

The Doctor grabbed his lunch and then plopped down beside his wife. "So what are we making? A sandcastle? I love sandcastles!" When River didn't say anything to him he looked up to see the look on her face and frowned. "River?"

Vincent was the one who looked up and said, "She's cross."

The Doctor blinked. "Why is she cross?"

Vincent shrugged, but Jenny said. "Quiet day on the beach."

The Doctor frowned. "Did something happen while I was gone?" He looked around quickly but nothing seemed out of place.

Amy rolled her eyes and shook her head. "So old, and yet still such an idiot."

It took several minutes for the Doctor to work it out. "Oh!" He finally said and then turned to look at River. "But I couldn't leave it here. It wouldn't have survived much longer in these waters. To warm and not nearly acidic enough." He pouted a little. "I was doing a kind thing, River. You can't be cross with me for doing a kind thing."

"She's pregnant Doctor." Rory said from where he sat with Amy. "They don't need a reason to be cross when they're pregnant."

The Doctor continued to pout. "Well that hardly seems fair."

Rory snorted, but stopped when both his wife and his daughter shot him a look.

Hours later the Doctor found himself trying to make up with his wife by taking her and Amy to Paris to do some shopping. Handing River a large amount of time and place appropriate currency had gotten him the first real smile since his little departure with the sea creature. She'd even given him a kiss on the cheek before walking off with Amy towards the shops. He followed them around dutifully to carry their packages and bags, and even managed to sneak a few peeks at some new hats while he was at it. With his arms full of packages the Doctor made his way towards the Tardis, after he'd stopped to buy a brilliant and absolutely cool new fez and several berets of various colors, leaving River and Amy cooing over baby things. He spent a few minutes trying on his new hats, settling on a nice lime green beret, before stepping out of the Tardis and heading back to the baby shop.

"Doctor!" Jack's voice called out, causing the Doctor to frown as he stopped and turned to see the man running towards him. "What are you doing here?" Jack asked with some concern.

"River was mad at me." The Doctor explained. "So I've brought her here to shop. What are you doing here? I thought you were…"

"I am." Jack said. "She's here, in Paris. I've been tracking her since we spoke, even managed to take out several remaining nests of Silence creatures. I'm trying to corner her at the right time, the right moment, so I don't bugger up the timeline."

The Doctor paled. "She's here?" Jack nodded and the Doctor's blood ran cold. "Why didn't you warn me!"

"I didn't know you'd come here." Jack replied.

The Doctor didn't wait for any more of an explanation from Jack he just took off running.

Stepping out of the shop they both felt it, the sudden rush of nausea, the cold that washed over their skin, the wave of lightheadedness. It was just how they'd felt all those years ago when they were facing the Silence. The woman looked older, the monster looked frail, but that didn't ease any of the danger they presented. Fear filled eyes of hazel and green looked around until they saw her and the monster standing beside her. As she walked towards them Amy put herself between the woman and River.

"Hello Amy." Madam Kovarian greeted with a twisted sick smile. "Hello Melody."

River had a small energy blaster tucked into the wide belt around her waist. She was just about to reach for it when she felt the brush of a hand. She watched as Amy pulled the weapon and pointed it at the woman. If she weren't feeling so frightened, angry, and worried about Kovarian's presence she'd have wondered how her mother knew the weapon was there, and how Amy had managed to snag it so quickly.

"I won't let you take her from me again." Amy said as she pointed the gun at the woman who'd stolen baby Melody from her so long ago. "I won't let you hurt her anymore. I'm certainly not going to let you do to her what you did to me."

Madam Kovarian laughed. "And you think you're going to stop me, dear?"

"I've killed you once." Amy replied. "I'll kill you again, and again, and again if I have too."

It had torn Amy up inside when she killed the Kovarian from the aborted timeline. River knew she couldn't let her mother do this, even if she were doing it to protect her. She was just about to pull a small pistol from the pocket of her dress when the sound of an energy weapon being fired rang out a split second before a blast of light hit the Silence monster, vaporizing it. Kovarian and River turned to see the Doctor and Jack, who'd fired his weapon, standing off to the side.

"Get away from my wife." The Doctor said in a low, terrifying voice that actually sent chills down Jack's spine.

Kovarian groaned. "Why aren't you dead, Doctor?" But then she smiled. "Oh well, I suppose we'll just have to try again." That sick smile suddenly contorted into a grimace of pain.

Amy wasn't much of a marksmen but she'd taken her chance when Kovarian turned her head. It wasn't a kill shot, but the mad woman with the eye patch was in a lot of pain. Amy stood there, ready to take another shot, when Kovarian turned to her before disappearing. Jack ran over and scanned the place the woman had been standing.

"Jack?" The Doctor asked.

"I'm on it." Jack said. He looked up at gave the Doctor a serious nod, and then disappeared in a flash of light.

After watching Jack leave the Doctor walked over to River and Amy. "Are you alright?"

"We're fine." River said as she moved slowly to stand in front of her mother. She'd covered Amy's hands with her own, forcing the redhead to lower her aim. "Aren't we Mother?" She asked gently. "Give me the gun." She said as she tried to tug the weapon gently from Amy's hands. "Mother, please, give me the gun."

Amy looked up into River eyes. "I won't let her hurt you, not again, not this time."

"I know." River said as she slid the gun from Amy's hands and stashed it away in a new hiding place. Then she moved in and hugged the other woman. "I know."

The Doctor watched, giving the two a moment before saying, "Come along Ponds. Everyone back in the Tardis. Now, no arguments." To his surprise River and Amy did just as they were told. They headed back to the safety of the Tardis. Once inside the Doctor moved to the controls and scanned both women just to be safe. They were real, they were his River and their baby, and his Amy, and they were safe in the Tardis. He sagged against the controls of his beautiful machine as the fear that had rushed through him left his body, leaving him feeling weak and tired.

"Who was that man?" Amy asked after they'd all taken a few minutes to collect themselves.

"Captain Jack Harkness." The Doctor replied. "He's an old companion." The Doctor paused and then added, "He's a friend."

"Did he go after her?" Amy asked.

The Doctor nodded. "He's been hunting the Silence for years. He knows what he's doing. He'll find her."

"And then what?" Amy asked as she closed the distance between herself and the Doctor. "What will he do, Doctor? What are you going to do to keep them safe? You can't let them do to River what they did to me! You can't let them use another child against you!" Her fear had triggered her temper. "You've caused her enough pain and grief. You can't let her down again!"

That hurt and it showed on the Doctor's face.

"Mother." River said sharply.

Amy shook her head as she looked between her best friend and her daughter before finally settling her gaze on River. "You were ripped from my arms, because of him. You were raised to be a weapon, against him. You were forced to kill him. You forced to watch yourself kill him. You were forced to spend years in prison for something you didn't really do, and you did it for him. I know you love him River. I know he loves you. And I love him too, I do, but you're my daughter. You're my little girl and you come first." She turned to look at the Doctor. "So what are you going to do, Doctor? How are you going to keep River and her baby, your baby, safe?"

"Whatever I have too." The Doctor replied softly. He looked into Amy's eyes and took her hand in his own. "I promise."

Amy nodded. "This is about her now, Doctor, not you. River and her child come first, do you understand?"

The Doctor nodded. "I promise."

Walking over to her daughter Amy hugged her tightly and then brushed lovingly at her hair before leaving River and the Doctor along in the control room. A heavy silence lingered between them before the Doctor finally looked up and said, "I'm sorry."

"For what?" River asked as she came to stand in front of him.

"So many things." The Doctor whispered.

River cupped his face in her hands, forcing him to look at her as she said, "Don't be."

The Doctor closed his eyes as he felt her lips press against his own. He wrapped his arms around her, holding her as close as he could get her. The word was out, or if it hadn't been it would be now. River Song was pregnant, he was alive, and all of the universe, all of reality and space and time, would know. And they would know who the baby's father was. It was inevitable, bound to happen, but he still wished they'd been given more time.

"Doctor." River said softly as she pulled back so she could look at him. "Why is Torchwood after Kovarian?"

"They're not." The Doctor said as he moved away from River and towards the Tardis controls. "Just Jack."

"Why is Jack after her?" River asked, her eyes never leaving him as he moved around the center island.

The Doctor paused for a moment and then went back to setting course. "Because I asked him too."

Since they were alone River didn't try to hide the shock she felt at that statement. "Doctor. That's not…"

"The kind of man I am?" The Doctor said as he looked up at his wife. "No, I suppose it's not. Yes, it's out of character for me, but things have changed River."

River simply nodded. What has she done to him? Her Doctor who tried so hard to fix things without anyone getting hurt; and yet, someone always did. People, both ally and enemy got hurt, some even died, never by his hand but always because of his presence. "What will he do if he catches her?"

"He will catch her." The Doctor reassured. "You and the baby will be safe." Then he shrugged. "That's up to Jack."

"Oh my love." River simply sighed.

He moved to her and brushed at her hair. "It's going to be alright, River. I promise." For a man who never made promises he sure was making an awful lot of them lately. "I love you."

She gave him a soft smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "I love you too, Sweetie."


	6. Chapter 6

He didn't really sleep much, he didn't need too, but River did and he enjoyed lying there beside her, holding her as she did. With his head propped up on one hand the Doctor watched the way the curls around River's face fluttered when she breathed out. His other hand was resting lazily on her swollen stomach. The room was dark, they were alone, and all of his focus was on River. Then suddenly he felt the faintest flutter of something brush his mind just a split second before he felt something odd under the palm of his hand. The Doctor sprung into a sitting position, his hand still on River's stomach. A few minutes of nothing happened before he felt it again; the faint flutter in his mind and then thump against his palm. His mind began working in overdrive as he sprung from their bed. "River!"

River moaned, her annoyance evident even in sleep.

"River!" The Doctor said again as he carefully put both of his hands on her stomach. "River, wake up!" He felt the thump against his palms again and he yelped. "What was that?" He asked out loud before reaching out and literally poking her stomach with his finger.

"Doctor." River said, her voice thick with sleep and irritation. "Why are you poking me?"

"I felt something!" He said in that tone he got when he was trying to figure out some huge cosmic puzzle or monster mystery. He placed his hands on her again and waited. "What is that?"

A slow smile appeared on River's lips, as her sleepy green eyes grew bright. "That my love is your child saying hello."

The Doctor looked up at her and blinked. "That was… I felt… The baby?"

River nodded as she sat up and shifted so she was leaning against the headboard. "I've been feeling him or her for weeks, just little flutters, but I guess he or she is big enough now and strong enough now to move around a bit more."

The Doctor left his hands on her stomach as he moved to press his cheek there as well. "That's brilliant! That's marvelous! Such a clever little time baby you are, moving and stretching in there."

Rising her hands, River placed one over one of the Doctor's and used the other to comb through his messy brown hair. "Well now that you've woke him or her up I suppose I'm up as well. I can't sleep with the baby in there flexing its new limbs, now can I?"

This new experience, this new sensation had him enthralled. He hadn't gotten to experience this the first time. Fathers weren't often around until after the child had been born where he came from. This time the Doctor didn't want to miss a moment. "River," He said looking up into a pair of green eyes that were bright with love. "Have you felt anything else? Something other then physical movement?"

She had to think about it but River nodded. "The softest brush of something in my mind."

The Doctor beamed. "Baby Time Lord Plus's are cool!"

River couldn't help but laugh before cupping the Doctor's face and pulling him up so she could kiss him. When they broke apart River smiled playfully. "I'm starving. Lets have breakfast with Henry the Eighth. He always has the best meals laid out."

The Doctor shook his head. "Can't, we're not allowed to visit Henry, and it isn't my fault this time."

"Oh that's right." River said with a slight blush. "He did get awfully cross when I refused to marry him, didn't he. Oh, well." She thought for a moment and then said, "Maggie Thatcher then. I could do with a good verbal fight." The Doctor made a face that caused River to laugh. It was slightly worse then the face he'd made when faced with facing Richard Nixon. "Hippy." She teased.

"Archeologist." He teased back as he helped her to her feet and followed her to the control room.

After breakfast with Margret Thatcher, which almost ended with them being arrested because River had decided to give the old woman a proper telling off, the Doctor took them to a planet were literature came alive. That didn't end any better then breakfast since the Doctor ended up insulting not one but all of the musketeers. When they got back to the Tardis River was exhausted. "I'm going to have a lay down." She announced while the Doctor got them off the planet. As she approached the bedroom she shared with her husband she noticed a door directly across from theirs that hadn't been there before. "What have you been up too?" She asked the Tardis as she opened the new door.

It was the most beautiful baby nursery River had even seen. It was colorful and bright, but not in an over stimulatingly way. Two of the walls were done with blue skies, fields of green grass, tall trees full of bright birds and silly squirrels, and in the distance the silhouette of London. Everything was in simple and beautiful detail, including the little row of houses with one little house with a Tardis blue door. On the other two walls were skies of burnt orange, fields of deep red grass, silver-leafed trees, a mountain range with sparkling snowcaps, and in the distance a great domed city. As River walked along the wall taking in all the detail she noticed that there was a house perched half way up the mountainside, looming over a quarry of stones of red, brown, purple and gold. The colors of the walls should have clashed but they didn't. Somehow the Tardis had made them compliment each other. She'd make the scene of Earth fit perfectly with the scene from Gallifray. River was teary eyed as she whispered, "Oh you wonderful, brilliant, amazing old girl."

The furniture in the room, including a new round cot with flowing canopy, which stood in the center of the room, a rocking chair, and a chest of drawers, matched the Victorian style River had in her own bedroom. It was exactly how River would have done up the room, right down to the soft plush toys and lots of books.

"River?" The Doctor called out. "River where did you go?"

"In here." River called out softly, as if raising her voice would break the peaceful mood the room produced.

The Doctor walked in and blinked. "Was this room always here?"

River shook her head. "She just created it."

"It's a baby's room." The Doctor said as he looked around.

"Aren't we observant." River teased. "Yes, my love. It's a baby's room. Our baby's room." She watched her husband carefully as he took in the two walls of Gallifray. She watched the emotion flicker and fade, and then flicker again when he brushed his fingers across the little house. River smiled. She'd seen how the room had effected him, how touched he'd been over the little house that she was assuming was his boyhood home, so she didn't need him to talk about it. Finally he turned to look at her, "I thought the baby would be staying in our room."

"It will." River reassured. The Doctor's old cot was set up in their room just waiting for the new time baby's arrival. "At first, but we'll want our privacy back at some point. He or she will need her own room."

The Doctor nodded. He was quiet for some time before saying, "Well, time to pick up Jenny. I'm sure she'd given Martha and Mickey enough trouble."

For several days the little painted house on the mountainside lingered in the Doctor's mind, triggering memories of much simpler times. Times before his eighth birthday, before he was taken to the Academy, before he was forced to look into the Untempered Schism. Before he was a Time Lord he was just a boy, the youngest of his parents children, and the most trouble. He was always exploring, tinkering, and getting into mischief. Sure he was still doing those things, but back then there was no responsibility; no life or death consequences to his actions. He wanted that for his child. He wanted him or her to have that kind of freedom, the freedom to make mistakes that wouldn't rip apart reality or destroy a world.

"Have we landed?" River asked as she came down the stairs and into the control room.

"We have." The Doctor said with a bright smile and that look in his eye that reminded River of a boy waiting for his birthday party to start. He held out his hand to her, his love sparkling in his eyes. "Come along, Song."

"Should I get Jenny?" River asked. Jenny had been traveling with them for some time now. She was getting closer to the Doctor as she stepped in for River as a running partner when River was to tired to leave the Tardis. She was also getting closer to River. River could understand Jenny in a way no one else could. They'd both been used as weapons in other peoples' wars, and had to learn on their own what it meant to be their own person, to think and feel and act on their own.

"No, we'll come back for her later." He promised as he curled his fingers around her hand. "Besides, she needs to rest after that nasty mess with the Sontarans."

River nodded her agreement, but the pride in her eyes was mistakable. Jenny had been good, but being around River was making her better. When they stepped out of the Tardis River found herself in a beautiful garden with trees and bright flowerbeds. There was even a small lake with ducks. The Doctor walked her along a stone path that lead to a small manor house tucked away on a beautiful stretch of land. "What is this?"

"A house." The Doctor replied with a beaming smile. "You're house."

"My house?" River asked with a raised brow.

"Your house, the baby's house, Jenny's house," He paused for a long moment before he said, "My house."

The smile on River's face was so bright the sun would have been jealous. "Our house. Our home."

The Doctor nodded. "The Tardis is our home, but the baby is going to need something more stable, some place stable, and safe. This place is safe; I've made sure of it. It's close to your parents but not to close, and it's in a fixed location in space and time, so it's protected that way, and I've added some of my own protections as well. I know how much it still hurts you, not having grown up with your parents in a proper house, in a proper home. And I know you're worried about the baby's safety. So yes, it's a house, a proper house, for our baby to grow up in."

River cut off the Doctor's rant with a slow heated kiss.

For about two weeks River was happy and content to set up house. She went shopping throughout time, because antiques were so much cheaper new, and all over Europe. Of course she drug the Doctor with her, which he complained and whined about, but secretly enjoyed especially when he found himself looking into a mystery of some kind. But like the Doctor, River could only take so much shopping and so much stability. She needed to be out there doing something just as much as her husband, so one afternoon she talked him into an adventure by convincing him that Jenny needed to see the Planet of the Tree People. Jenny had spent most of the trip with River, helping the tree people defeat an invading force of woodpeckers while the Doctor fetched the Tardis from a giant bird nest after she'd been carried off by one of the woodpecker leaders.

Then River decided to take Jenny on an archeology expedition. The two women explored the Ruins of Boeshane while the Doctor pouted in the Tardis. Because she couldn't use her vortex manipulator to pop about through time and space, River had commandeered the Tardis for her expeditions. The Doctor, though he was proud and impressed by his wife, was still not a fan of her chosen line of work. So whenever she'd drag Jenny off to some tomb, cave, or ruin he'd pout and fiddle with the Tardis. He never put up too much of a fuss though because liked seeing River and Jenny getting closer. River was enjoying having the young blonde around, and Jenny really liked River too. She would always be grateful to Donna who had been there when she'd been created, and who'd helped bring her father around on actually being her father, but River was quickly becoming what Jenny thought a mother was and she liked that.

"Hurry River!" The Doctor called out from the Tardis control room several days after River's little archeology lesson. "We're going to be late!"

Deciding they needed a nice peaceful trip the Doctor had decided they were going to visit an old friend. River wasn't convinced that visiting anyone related to Queen Victoria would be peaceful, but the Doctor convinced her that Alexandra wasn't anything like her grandmother. When she came down the stairs she was dressed for the cold Russian winter, but under her thick coat, furry muff, and furry hat she was wearing a grown she'd bought on a planet full of shops that specialized in maternity wear. When she looked up after coming down the steps she noticed the Doctor was staring at her, or more exactly, at her hat. "What?"

"How did you get all that hair into that hat?" The Doctor asked as he titled his head in that odd way of his.

River narrowed her eyes. "You have room to talk." She huffed. She knew her husband was asking out of real curiosity and not a teasing manner, but she was feeling very hormonal these days. "How did you stuff all that curly hair you had in your fourth regeneration into a fedora? Oh, and lets not forget the bad perm you had during your sixth. And the clothes! My goodness my love, what in the name of fashion were you thinking?"

The Doctor shuddered at the memory, not only of the hair but the clown suit he'd worn, it was worse then the cricket uniform of his fifth and the frilly shirt, velvet waistcoats, and capes of his third put together. "I've just never seen you in a hat before." The Doctor said with a smile as he tried to defuse his wife's rant. "I think it looks cool." He gave her a beaming smile. "You look wonderful River."

River couldn't help but smile. "Maybe if you're good I'll wear the hat again later." As she passed him heading for the door she whispered, "Only the hat."

The Doctor blushed from the tips of his ears to the tips of his toes. Then he cleared his throat and called for Jenny who wasn't nearly as comfortable in fancy clothes as River was. The three stepped out of the Tardis and walked a short snowy distance to a waiting carriage that would take them to the Czar's palace. The ball was far from adventurous, but still enjoyable and fun. Despite what others had seen, the Doctor was actually quite good at the kind of formal dancing they were doing in the royal Russian palace and River was enjoying herself immensity. And yet as she danced with her husband River couldn't help but keep an eye on the dark man standing close to the Tsarina. "I don't like him."

The Doctor turned them so he could see whom River meant. "Not many do. Even Nikolas is leery of him, but Alexandra has hung all her hopes on him."

"But he's conning her." River said with a slight huff. "He's using her child for his own personal gain." She sighed, her exasperation evident. "This part of time travel is rubbish. We know what he's doing, the kind of man he truly is, and yet we can do nothing."

"We can't, but he'll get his when it's time." The Doctor said with a knowing smirk. River pulled back to look at him, a questioning look in her eyes. "I might have had a tiny look at the tesselector's records while I was in there."

"Doctor!" River scolded with a laugh. "Spoilers!"

The Doctor shrugged. "Not really. Other then the run-ins we had with them they don't really cross our timelines all that much. Looking at the data base wasn't any different then what you do, Doctor Song, Archeologist."

River smiled that up to no good smile of hers. "I could have had a lot of fun with that machine."

The Doctor laughed. "I bet you could have."

After dancing for a while River needed a rest so she'd found a seat at a table that let her see the room. Off near a corner she could see Jenny with the royal daughters as they all cooed over the latest gift sent to them from England, two young deerhounds. River smiled as she watched Jenny laugh and it touched her heart to see the girl enjoy such a simple moment. When the younger blonde looked up and saw River watching she smiled and River was more then happy to return the smile. That smile faulted however when River noticed the Tsarina's 'advisor' approach Jenny, and it was an all out scowl as she watched the dark monk lean a little to close. Rasputin was a known womanizer and River Song would be damned if he bedded her daughter!

"If you wouldn't mind," River said to the much taller man as she walked up to the pair. "Do keep your hands to yourself." She added as she pulled Jenny away from Rasputin, causing the hand he'd hand her arm to fall to his side.

Jenny looked a little confused as she said, "River, Mr. Rasputin is…"

"I know who he is Jenny." River cut in. "I know very well who he is." It was a warning and everyone knew it. River was glaring so hard at Rasputin that he took a step back from her. "My daughter and I will be retiring for the evening. If you'll excuse us."

"River, I…" Jenny started but River had a firm hold on her wrist and was pulling her away.

River's voice was soft and firm as she said, "He isn't the type of person you want to get to know, Jenny."

"River." Jenny said as she was dragged along.

"Jenny don't argue with me." River said crossly. "I know you can handle yourself, but I know far more about Earth history then you do. That man is no good."

"Ok, but River…" Jenny tried a third time.

River stopped and turned to face the younger woman. "What is it Jenny?"

Jenny couldn't help but smile. "You told him I was your daughter."

Green eyes blinked in surprise. She hadn't realized she'd been thinking of the younger woman that way let alone knowing she'd said it out loud. A moment passed as River sorted out her thoughts and emotions and then she returned the smile, "Yes, I did."

"I liked it." Jenny admitted.

River's smile brightened. "So did I."

"There you two are!" The Doctor said as he came rushing up to them. "River what did you do?"

River turned to look at him and frowned. "I didn't do anything."

"Well you did something." He huffed. "Rasputin's in a huff and that has Alexandra in a huff and now it's time we left before that huff turns into an arrest warrant."

River shared a look with Jenny before looking at her husband before saying with a sigh, "Russians are so melodramatic."

"At this rate I'm going to have to avoid the entire Victorian era." The Doctor pouted as they left the palace. "I like the Victorian Era."


	7. Chapter 7

When the doors of the Tardis opened the Doctor, River and Jenny stepped out into an underground tunnel. It was brightly lit, which was odd because the tunnel was clearly very old. The Doctor had gotten a message on his psychic paper asking him to come to these coordinates, and since only a handful of people could send him messages that way he'd come. Plus he had a pretty good idea who the message was from and who they were meant to be meeting.

"Sweetie." River said as they moved away from Tardis. "Where are we?"

The Doctor turned in a circle for a moment and then walked over to one of the walls and picked at it with his fingernail. Then he sniffled his finger before touching the tip of his tongue to it, tasting the chalky substance that lingered there. Then he pressed his ear to the wall, closed his eyes, and listened. Finally he spun on his heel to face his wife. "Cardiff."

"Cardiff?" River repeated as she looked around.

"What's a Cardiff?" Jenny asked, turning to River for an answer because she knew her father's would be long-winded and far off point.

"It's the capital city of Wales." River explained. "About two and half hours west of London by car."

Jenny nodded as she took in the little fact.

River looked at the Doctor who was still checking things out. "Why in the name of sanity are we in Cardiff?"

"Got a problem with Cardiff?" A woman's voice asked from the end of the tunnel.

The Doctor smiled as he clapped his hands together. He hadn't met the woman in person but he'd worked with her in a way, and he'd heard a lot about her from Jack. He'd also met one of her ancestors back in his Ninth regeneration. "Gwen Cooper!"

The dark haired, green-eyed Welsh woman raised an eyebrow at the tweed wearing smiling man who was coming towards her despite the fact that Gwen had a weapon drawn on them. "Yeah, I'm Gwen Cooper."

"I know you are!" The Doctor said almost giddily. "We worked together once. Always wanted to meet you in person though."

River could see the confusion on the woman's face. Her own hand was lingering close to her blaster, and she knew Jenny had her gun within reach as well, but she was hoping things wouldn't spiral down in that direction. She knew about Torchwood of course, she'd studied them, so she knew who Gwen Cooper was. "Sweetie, has Ms. Cooper seen you since you regenerated?"

"Well, no, of course not." The Doctor said as he spun to look at his wife as she spoke and then spun back to look at Gwen as it clicked "Oh, yes, right. New face. I'm the Doctor."

Gwen blinked and then she understood. "You did that body changing thing Jack says you do?"

The Doctor nodded. "Awhile ago now but I haven't really gone back to see anyone since."

"Well Doctor," Gwen said, finally smiling and putting her weapon away. "Welcome to Torchwood."

The Doctor went a little stiff when he heard Torchwood. He knew Jack had taken things over and had turned things around, but the word still sent unpleasant memories through him. "Torchwood." He repeated, shuddered a little, and then asked, "Under Cardiff Castle?"

"We had to relocate." Gwen said and then asked, "How did you get in here?"

"Got a message." The Doctor answered as he pulled out his psychic paper. "Said, meet me here, and had these coordinates."

Gwen looked confused. As far as she knew no one had sent the Doctor a message from there. No one knew the Doctor but Jack, she and Ianto had seen him on a computer screen once, he'd even asked her the oddest question about her family linage, but they didn't know him. "It had to have been Jack."

The Doctor nodded in agreement. "So where is Jack?"

"I have no idea." Gwen said as a rather annoyed look appeared on her face as she looked up at the Doctor. "He's been gone for weeks. Said he was working on something for you."

As River watched the conversation her husband was having she began feeling something odd prickling across her skin. It was the strangest sensation she'd ever felt. It was as if every cell in her body was suddenly itchy.

"River." Jenny whispered as she leaned close to her stepmother while rubbing her hands up and down her arms. "Do you feel that?"

River nodded. "I do." Then she took several steps towards the Doctor. "Doctor, do you feel that odd tingle?"

The Doctor paused in his conversation with Gwen and then nodded. "That would be him."

"Him?" River repeated. "Him who?"

"Jack." The Doctor said as he peered down the long tunnel. "Your Time Lord DNA is having an allergic reaction to his presence." The Doctor explained when River gave him a look that demanded one.

"An allergic reaction?" Jack's voice rang out as he approached. "Really Doctor? So what, now I'm a batch of bad shell fish?"

Gwen didn't even try to hide the fact that she looked surprised, though she wasn't sure if she was surprised by Jack's sudden appearance or the odd little groups' ability to sense him.

The Doctor simply shrugged. "It was the best way to explain it."

"Couldn't you have said I was like a comfortable old wool jumper or something?" Jack said with a chuckle as he thumped the Doctor on the arm playfully. Then he gave Gwen a huge smile. "Miss me?"

Gwen rolled her eyes but her smile said she had.

Jack then turned towards River and Jenny. "And you must be the Mrs. Doctor I've heard so much about." He bowed slightly, a handsome roughish smile on his face. "Captain Jack Harkness at your service."

River smirked, but was quick to correct him. "Doctor River Song." She said before indicating Jenny who was still at her side. "And this is Jenny."

"Hello Jenny." Jack greeted the younger woman before turning back to River. He took her in carefully as he took her hand and brought it to his lips. There was something about her, something that told him he was finally seeing the other half of a matched set. She was a stunning woman with such bright and intelligent eyes, and he found himself intrigued. In an instant he wanted to know her better. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you Doctor River Song."

The way he nearly sang her name made River smirk. "The pleasure is all mine, Captain Jack Harkness."

Gwen made a sound in the back of her throat that sounded a little like a territorial growl, which caused the Doctor to jump. He clapped his hands together then, and then forced himself between Jack and his wife. "Right then, Jackie ol' boy, you sent me a message to meet you here? So here I am."

Jack took a step back but before he could say anything Jenny cut in, "Why are we allergic to him?"

"Well Jenny," Jack said as he put an arm around the girl's shoulders. "It's very nice to meet you too by the way." He gave her a charming smile. "I'm a living fixed point in time and space." Jack explained, as he looked the young woman over. She was very pretty and something about her reminded him of someone. "According to the Doctor that irritates a Time Lord straight to the core." He smiled at the beautiful young blonde and then what he'd said hit him. "Wait, you're having a reaction to me? You're a Time Lord?"

"She's my daughter." The Doctor explained while giving Jack a look that said he needed to step away from Jenny before the Doctor tested his immortality.

Jack blinked as he stepped back from Jenny and then looked between Jenny and River, or more to the point River's stomach, and then at the Doctor. "Aren't you worried this will cause some kind of weird paradox?"

"No. Why would it?" The Doctor asked before following Jack's line of sight. "Oh! Oh, no, that," He pointed at River's stomach. "That's not Jenny."

"I was genetically manufactured from the DNA of his last regeneration." Jenny explained.

"Oh." Jack said and then he realized who she reminded him of, so he very carefully asked, "And your mother?"

"Don't have one." Jenny said sadly, which didn't go unnoticed by River. The older blonde moved closer to Jenny without even really realizing it. "The machine used to create me only required one DNA sample."

Jack looked over at the Doctor and said, "We have a lot to catch up on, but first I have something for you." Jack jerked his head in the direction of the exit. "Come upstairs and we'll talk."

The Doctor, River and Jenny followed Jack and Gwen through the tunnel after Jack promised the Tardis would be safe. They lead their guests up into some underground rooms beneath the castle. The Doctor's eyes widened a little when a young dark haired man in a suit greeted them.

"Miss me?" Jack asked the man before walking over and kissing him. Then he turned to Gwen, "See, that's the response I like to that question."

Gwen snorted. "Don't think my husband would like it much."

"Ryes doesn't need to be jealous. I'd kiss him too." Jack replied with a laughed before turning back to Ianto. "Coffee and tea for everyone please."

Ianto nodded. "Of course Jack. Welcome home by the way."

"Jack." The Doctor said in a low voice as he stepped up beside the taller man. "Was that…"

"Yes." Jack said with a warm smile.

"I thought he was dead?" The Doctor blurted out.

"Do you remember the hiccup in reality I was telling you about?" Jack asked in return. "When things went back to normal, he was still here."

As soon as Ianto Jones appeared with the drinks the Doctor was on him in a flash scanning him with his sonic screwdriver. When Ianto looked up at Jack, Jack simply said, "He does that. Give him a moment." Ianto just nodded.

Sure enough once he had the information he wanted the Doctor stopped. He looked up at Jack with a bit of frown and said, "You need to tell me more about this hiccup."

"Later." Jack said as he led them to his office. After hanging up his coat he turned to look at the Doctor, River and Jenny and hesitated.

The Doctor caught the hesitation and since he knew what this was about he couldn't blame Jack. Jack didn't want River or Jenny to see him differently after finding out what he'd asked Jack to do. He knew he couldn't hide this from River but Jenny was so young and might not understand. "Would it be alright if someone showed Jenny around?"

"Sure." Jack said with a soft smile. "Gwen?"

The dark haired woman nodded and smiled at Jenny. "I think we can find some interesting things around here for a young Time Lady."

Alone in Jack's office with the door closed and the glass frosted so no one could see in, Jack pulled something out of the inside pocket of his long coat. "Consider this a late wedding present."

The Doctor reached out and took what was a folded up handkerchief and slowly opened it. His whole body tensed up when he saw what the cloth held and beside him River gasped softly. It was a black mechanical eye patch. The Doctor stared at it before looking up at Jack. "She's dead then?"

Jack was perched on the edge of his desk watching and then he shook his head. "Dead, no."

"Jack!" The Doctor began but was cut off.

"She's gone, she can't hurt anyone anymore, but she isn't dead." Jack explained. "She's frozen in time, unable to do anything but age, so she will die, but not because of you." The Doctor was glaring at him, but there was a look of relief on River's face. "You're not the kind of man who seeks out someone's death, Doctor. You save lives. Having a hand in Madam Kovarian's death, even second handedly, would have destroyed a piece of you. I couldn't do that. You've changed for the better, Doctor, I can see it. I won't help taint all that good."

"She can't hurt us?" River asked softly. Her husband had taken to pacing the room like an angry animal, but he would be fine once he processed all of this.

"What's done is done, the past can't be changed so everything happens the way it's meant to." Jack reassured. "But she can't hurt you or the baby or anyone else from here on out."

The Doctor turned to Jack and asked, "How?"

"Time agent, remember?" Jack said with a smirk. "She's locked in a single moment in time and space, a faction of a moment really. She can't move, can't speak, she can't even think really. Her systems are supported to keep her alive, and her body will continue to age, and when it's meant to happen, she'll pass on her own."

"And her body?" River asked.

"Someplace safe." Jack answered. "Someplace I'll be able to keep an eye on her."

There was a long moment of silence in the office before River said, "Thank you, Jack."

Jack gave the woman a beautiful and dazzling smile. "You're very welcome, Dr. Song."

The Doctor finally shook off his anger and concern. Deep down he knew that Jack had done what he'd asked but in a way he would be able to live with. He'd been struggling every since he'd first meet with Jack, wondering how he would ever live with the choice he'd made. Because of the way Jack handled it he no longer had to worry about that burden, and he knew without any doubt that Jack really would do anything for him, and would always be looking for him. The Doctor would always do the same for Jack now as well. "Stop it, Jack."

"What?" Jack said with an innocent look on his face. "I didn't do anything."

"Don't say her name like that." The Doctor huffed.

"Like what?" Jack asked with a smirk.

The Doctor waved his hands at Jack in a way that made him look as if he were having some kind of spasm. "That 'way'."

"And in what way do I say Dr. Song?" Jack continued, egged on by the soft snickering of the woman in question.

"That way!" The Doctor shouted. "That's purry, flirtly, Jack way."

Jack couldn't help but laugh hard at that one. "Purry?"

"Oh shut up." The Doctor barked at him.

River took pity on her husband and wrapped her arms around his neck. "You're very cute when you're jealous."

"I'm not jealous." The Doctor huffed.

"You know there's only ever been one man for me, Sweetie." River purred.

The Doctor snorted. "What about that SD Duplicate with swappable heads?"

"Oh those are fun!" Jack said with such merriment that it was clear River wasn't the only one who'd dated one.

"Every girl has her toys, my love." River replied, causing the Doctor to blush crimson.

Jenny had taken an instant liking to Gwen and Ianto so she was a little disappointed when the Doctor said it was time to go. River noticed and convinced the Doctor not to be in such a rush. The three stayed a little longer which let everyone get to know each a little better. After the Tardis did disappear back into the vortex Jack made his way over the National Museum Cardiff where a new permanent space exploration exhibit was now calling home. It was after hours so he was alone as he walked up to an early version of a NASA spacesuit. He'd done his homework; he knew the story, so he felt this was a very fitting prison. Flipping open the sun visor on the suits helmet he looked at the face of Madam Kovarian. As he looked into her cold lifeless eyes he knew that in her mind she was relieving the same moment over and over.

Jack step out of the shadows after a very young and frightened River Song was forced into a suit very much like this one. His eyes locked with Kovarian's, his weapon took aim. Jack smiled. "He lives and they are so very happy together." He told her. She yells in anger. Jack fires.

Repeat.

Repeat.

Repeat…


	8. Chapter 8

There was no sound, no warning that the Tardis had landed, so when Amy Pond heard the Doctor's voice yelling for her from their back garden it took her by surprise. The moment her surprise faded it was replaced by worry and fear. River! Getting up from her desk in the study the red haired Scotswoman made her way to the back door, running right past her husband who'd been playing with their son in the living room. There on the lawn was the Tardis with the Doctor hanging out of the open doorway waving his arm at her as if she might not see him.

"Ponds!" The Doctor yelled, his voice a little high and clearly concerned. "Amelia Pond!"

"What's wrong?" Amy asked as she rushed towards the Tardis in her bare feet. The tone of her best friend's voice, the look on his to pale face, it made mother's instincts kick in and she knew without the details that it was River.

"Come along Ponds!" The Doctor said as he rushed Amy, and then Rory who'd come out of the house moments later with Vincent, into the Tardis.

There was a cold ball of fear in the pit of Amy's stomach as she watched the Doctor rush to the controls of his beloved ship after slamming the doors shut. "What's going on Doctor?"

"Is River alright?" Rory asked. Like Amy he'd known that this was somehow about their daughter, but unlike Amy he wasn't jumping to the worse case scenarios.

The Doctor nodded. "Fine, fine, she's in our room."

Amy moved closer to him and that's when she noticed there where burn marks on the walls. "Was there a fight? What happened? Was River hurt?"

Rory didn't wait for answers he was going to find his daughter and find out for himself what was going on. He set Vincent down and ran up the steps, through the door and down the hall towards River's and the Doctor's bedroom.

The Doctor yelped when he saw this and called out, "Rory! Don't!" As he chased the other man down the hall with Amy hot on his heels with a toddler on her hip.

There was a flash of light and the distinct sound of blaster fire. The Doctor moved to cover Amy while she protected Vincent. A moment later Rory rushed out of the room, closing the door behind him, and turned to see his wife and son-in-law in the hallway. His eyes were wide, his breathing rushed as he mumbled, "She shot at me!"

"What?" Amy asked in disbelief as she walked over to her husband to look him over for any kind of injury.

Rory blinked again. "River just shot at me!"

"I would have warned you." The Doctor said. "But you went rushing off before I could explain."

Amy turned to glare at him. "Explain now."

"River's in labor." The Doctor said. "We were having lunch with Katharine Hepburn, River absolutely adores Kate, and Kate adores her," He paused and mumbled, "A little to much." He huffed softly and then began again. "We were having lunch with her and then suddenly River wanted to come back to the Tardis. I wanted to finish the very tasty fish stew we were having, but River wanted to come back so she said goodbye to Kate and walked out of the house. I followed her and when I said we should at least stay until after dessert she shot at me! She's been shooting at me all day!"

The redhead took this in and then began to laugh.

Both the Doctor and Rory looked kind of put off at Amy's laughter. "This isn't funny!" The Doctor huffed. "My wife is trying to kill me! Again!"

"Of course it's funny and she isn't trying to kill you." Amy said before getting her laughter under control. "She's in pain, a pain no man, no person who hasn't felt it for themselves can understand, and it's kind of your fault."

"My fault!" The Doctor said looking insulted. "How is this my fault!"

Amy smirked. "You're the one who got her pregnant." She handed Vincent to Rory and said, "Go pick up Dr. Jones. I'll sit with River."

"Amy." The Doctor began to protest, waving his hands at the blaster marks on the walls.

"She isn't going to shot at me." Amy said with confidence. "I'm her mum."

"I'm her dad and she shot at me." Rory said with a pout.

Amy smiled and patted him on the arm. "You're male, and you've caused this kind of pain before, twice."

Rory huffed as he continued to pout. "Yeah, well, if I hadn't she wouldn't be here, now would she?"

In the bedroom Amy found her daughter sitting up in the large Victorian bed that dominated the far wall. There was a mountain of pillows behind River's back and she had her head back, her eyes closed, and her hands on her large stomach. She could tell by the way River was breathing that she was in pain. Walking over to the bed Amy sat on the edge before reaching out to brush damp curls from River's forehead. "I don't think your father appreciated being shot at young lady."

"I'll apologize later." River said without opening her eyes. Reaching out she took her mother's free hand and held it tightly until the pain passed. Then she let out a slow breath and opened her eyes. "Hello Mother."

Amy couldn't help but smile. "Hello River." She leaned closer and kissed her daughter's forehead. "I'd ask how you were but I've a fairly good idea what the answer would be."

"I'm alright." River said as she shifted a little, trying to get comfortable. "I've felt worse pain."

"I'm afraid this pain is going to get worse before it's over." Amy said softly. She didn't like to think of what River meant by worse pain. Her daughter's life style scared Amy, but she wouldn't be River if she didn't live her life the way she did. Since finding out who River was each time Amy saw her in action there was a small echo in her memory of her saying, 'Melody Pond is a superhero.' How true that statement turned out to be. "Do you need anything?"

River shook her head. "I'm alright for now. The contractions are pretty far apart right now, but they're strong. Martha warned me they might be. We're still not sure how much of my labor will be human and how much will be time lord."

Amy nodded. "If it's any help you were purely a human delivery." She looked around and was kind of surprised to find River alone. "Where's Jenny?"

"Cardiff." River answered.

"What the hell is she doing in Wales?" Amy asked with a crinkle in her nose.

River chuckled. "She's working with some friends. Apparently the Doctor and I were cramping her style." A warm, loving look crossed River's face as she thought about her stepdaughter. After leaving Jack and Torchwood behind the three of them took a few trips but then returned to the English manner house for a bit of rest for River. Jenny had been acting oddly; she'd wanted to talk to River and her father but hadn't known how. When River finally asked what was going on Jenny explained that she wanted to spend some time learning from Torchwood, from Jack and Gwen. River had been sad to see Jenny go but understood that the girl needed more then she and the Doctor could offer, just like all children did. It took some convincing but the Doctor finally agreed as well. When they left Jenny with Jack they'd just finish setting her up with a new identity. Jenny Song. It had been Jenny's idea. River had been unbelievably touched.

Out in the control room the Doctor was dashing about setting the controls to head off to find Martha Jones. As he pushed buttons and pulled levers his hands shook but the smile on his face never once disappeared. All those months ago when River told him she was having a baby, this moment seemed so very far away that he was starting to think it would never happen. Now that it was about to happen he was excited, but so anxious and nervous that he wondered if maybe they couldn't use a little more time to get ready.

"You're using the blue stabilizers?" Rory asked as he watched his son-in-law and close friend buzz around like a bee on caffeine. "And you've taken the breaks off?"

"The sound irritates River." The Doctor said simply.

Rory nodded and so did Vincent because he was imitating his father. Then again even he knew it's not really a good idea to mess with his sister when she was in a mood. "So where do we find Dr. Jones?"

"Last time she checked in she was heading up towards Aberdeen." The Doctor said as he checked his scanner and then picked up the phone to call Martha and tell her they were coming. The Doctor frown as he listened, there appeared to be a battle of some kind going on in the background. Sure enough when he landed the Tardis and stepped out of the doors he found himself in the middle of a fight between Martha, Mickey, and four large Aquarbi. The Aquarbi were centaur like creatures with a furious hate for humans. "Oh look!" The Doctor said getting caught up in the sight of the creatures. "I haven't seen you lot in a long time!"

Before they landed Rory went back to the bedrooms. He knocked and waited for Amy to come out into the hall so he could give her Vincent. When he exited the Tardis he wasn't expecting, though maybe he should have, to find the Doctor gripped tightly in the fist of a giant… Was that a centaur? "Doctor!" He called out a moment before he felt himself being tackled to the ground just as a wash of air rippled over him. When he looked up he could see one of the creatures had battle-axe, which he'd swung, the air had come from the weapon as it moved over their bodies.

"Get down mate!" Mickey said as he and Rory crawled behind some cover.

"Centaur but not a centaur?" Rory asked. "The things the myth is based on?"

Mickey shook his head. "Distant cousins from another planet."

Rory simply nodded. "That was my next guess. Rory Williams by the way."

"Mickey Smith." Mickey replied with a nod before popping up to shoot his blaster rifle at the largest of the four, the male who was squeezing the Doctor like a squeaky toy.

From the other side of the clearing they were in Martha was trying to talk the Aquarbi into setting the Doctor down while the Doctor was trying to do the same. It was however hard to do when you can barely breath. The blaster rifles were doing little more then causing burns on the surface of the Aquarbis skin, and singeing their fur. The Doctor managed to get his hand free and was using his sonic on the thing but that was just making it angry. He was still formulating a plan when the Aquarbis let out a bone-rattling scream before falling to its front knees. The Aquarbis' hand opened, and the Doctor hit the ground hard. He crawled away as the creature gripped his wrist, which was bleeding. Looking back he saw an arrow sticking out of its wrist.

The Doctor got to his feet and spun around looking for where that arrow could of come from. He really shouldn't have been surprised to find River standing just outside the Tardis with what looked like a large crossbow. With accuracy very few could archive River nailed all four creatures in the same place on their wrists and all four fell, paralyzed. With the threat neutralized everyone turned to the pissed off looking pregnant woman in her dressing gown and bare feet.

"I'm about to have a baby!" River growled. "And you lot are out here playing my little bloody pony!"

"How'd you do that?" Mickey asked as he pointed to the four fallen creatures.

River turned hard-annoyed pale green eyes towards the man. "There's a nerve cluster in the wrist. Piercing it immobilizes them."

"And how'd you know that?" He asked as he looked between the woman and the creatures.

Rory beamed with pride as he said, "She's an archeologist." As if that simply answered every question Mickey could have. Then he turned to the Doctor. "Where did she get a cross bow?"

The Doctor shrugged. "Sometimes I think she has an armory in her hair."

"You got this yeah?" Martha asked her husband. Mickey nodded, still feeling a little in awe of the curly haired woman in her dressing gown with a crossbow at her side and a redhead at her back. Then he pulled out a radio and called up to a waiting ship that would transport the Aquarbis away.

As soon as River saw that the Doctor, her father and Martha were heading towards her she turned around and headed back into the Tardis. She was starting up the stairs, the Doctor, Martha and Rory just reaching the door, when the Tardis doors suddenly slammed shut and the she lurched into flight.

Amy, who was keeping as close to her daughter as she could without getting her head bit off, was able to get River into the jump seat before she could fall, but she herself was thrown to the floor.

"Mother!" River called out when she saw Amy fall hard against the glass floor.

"I'm alright." Amy said as she got up slowly. "Banged up my elbow a bit, but I'm fine." She said as she rubbed the spot where she'd landed. "What happened?"

"I don't know." River said as she went to the controls. "What's gotten into you then?" She asked the Tardis as she tried to figure out what just happened. She'd just pulled the scanner over to her when a contraction hit, the pain doubling her over.

"River!" Amy said as she rushed to her daughter's side.

River took her mother's hand again as the pain from the contraction surged through her body. "Now look here you bloody blue box." She growled as she looked up at the glass cylinder at the heart of the control panel island. "I'm in no mood for games! Take us back right this second!" The Tardis continued flying. "Alright," River said as she straightened up, the contraction subsiding. "You'd better have a really good reason for this or I swear I'll take you apart bolt by bolt."

"River." Amy said as the monitor flickered to life. "What is that thing?"

River looked at the monitor and shook her head. "I don't know. I've never seen one before." Scrolling through the information she read it and sighed softly. "I'm sorry." She said as she caressed the Tardis gently. "I should have known."

"Known what?" Amy asked.

"She was protecting us." River said as she put her hand on her stomach.

"I don't know." The Doctor answer when Rory asked what was going on. He continued to walk around the area where the Tardis had been, scanning it with his sonic screwdriver. He'd freaked out when the Tardis first disappeared, but after several minutes of angry ranting he calmed down enough to start thinking again. "The only reason it would take off like that is to protect River and the baby."

"Protect them from what?" Rory asked as he watched the Doctor muttering and scanning. "Doctor!"

"Easy mate." Mickey said as he put his hand on Rory's shoulder. With the creatures secured he'd been able to switch his focus to the missing Tardis. "You're friends are alright in the Tardis."

Rory turned to look at the other man. "That's my family in there! And that's my daughter and grandchild who's in danger!"

"No danger." The Doctor said turning to face them. "That's why the Tardis left to keep them out of danger. But way? What's around here that caused her to do that? Where are we? Oh yes, Aberdeen. Aberdeen. Scotland. Aberdeen Scotland." He babbled as he turned slowly in a circle until he was facing north. "Aberdeen Scotland. North of Aberdeen is Shetland. The Shetland Islands, Oh! Oh, yes, yes that makes sense! But no, no it doesn't, why would they have left the island?"

"They who?" Rory asked.

Martha just shook her head and smirked. "Some things never change."

"The Th'chi'rin." The Doctor answered. "An alien race living mainly on Shetland Island, but a few others as well, for as long as human memory can remember. They steal human babies, switching them in the night with their own offspring. When the parents wake up they have a pale, sickly child that has a better chance of surviving with human parents then with their own, but only a small chance. Most of the time the human parents end up losing the child, and spend the rest of their lives thinking their baby is dead."

"Like a Tenza?" Rory asked.

The Doctor shook his head. "No, no, different completely."

"What do they do with the human babies?" Martha asked.

"Raise them." The Doctor said. "Human babies are stronger, more hearty then their own, so they're easier to raise."

"And one of these things is close by?" Martha asked as she looked around. "Is that why the Tardis took off?"

"Yes." The Doctor said with a frown. "Which means it was cheated out of its prize and is going to very cross with us."

Everyone started looking around, looking for something out of place and dangerous. "What do these things look like?" Martha asked.

"Smaller then a human, misshapen, deformed, wild hair, shallow faces, and pale." The Doctor said as he moved towards the trees. "They're active at night while humans are asleep."

While they listened to the Doctor Mickey suddenly lifted his hand to brush at his neck. It had felt as if something had pricked him. Seconds later he was as still as stone. The other three had taken several steps away before they realized something was off. Martha was the one who stopped to see if her husband was coming or staying behind. "Mickey!" She called out as she rushed to him.

The Doctor turned and followed, scanning him with his sonic screwdriver. "Paralyzing agent. He'll be fine. Lets go."

"Doctor." Martha said as she stared at him. "We can't just leave him here!"

"He'll be fine. It wears off." The Doctor reassured. "The Tardis isn't going to return until the threat is over and we don't have time to waste, Martha Jones. River's in labor."

River groaned softly as she sluggishly made her way around the controls. She was trying to override the Tardis herself to get them back to the Doctor. In between contractions she was having a lot of pain in her back and moving around was more then a little uncomfortable.

"River you need to sit down." Amy said as she followed her daughter as she bustled about.

"I'm fine Mother." River said for the fifth or sixth time. "We need to get back to the Doctor. I am not having this baby without my husband." She glared up at the glass cylinder. "Did you hear me? I am not having my child without my husband. So stop being stubborn and let me fly you!"

The look on River's face and the way her hand went to stomach told Amy River was in pain again. "River, sit down!" She said firmly. The tone of her voice said not to argue and the look she gave River almost dared her to disobey. River stared back at her, challenging her, so Amy practically growled, "Now."

River gave in and moved over to the jump seat and sat down. She rubbed her belly, took deep breaths, and glared at her mother like a stubborn two-year old sitting on the naughty step.

"Good girl." Amy said. "Now tell me what to do."

Her mother tried her best but the Tardis just wasn't listening. River knew if they were going to take control she'd have to do it. The Tardis liked Amy well enough but she was still just the ginger one, not someone to be listened too. "Mother stop." River said after another failed attempt. "She isn't listening. I have to do this."

"You need to rest." Amy said as she moved closer to River, giving her a look that said she'd better not even try getting up right now.

"Compromise then." River offered. She looked up as she said, "Activate voice interface."

A child version of Amy appeared. "Oy! That's me!"

"She must be the image the Doctor used the last time he used this feature." River said with a soft smile that quickly faded. "Which must have been in Berlin." She looked at the seven-year-old version of her mother for a moment and then said, "Change visual. Use someone that's more you." River could tell the Tardis struggled with that a bit so she got up and went to the keyboard. She did a little reprogramming and a few minutes later the image shifted to that of the young woman the Tardis' soul had once been placed in. River smiled, this was the form the Tardis took in her dreams. "Hello Sexy."

The Tardis' avatar smiled. "Hello child of the Tardis."

Back in Scotland the Doctor, Rory and Martha were looking for the hidden Th'chi'rin and it's child. "If we can find the child a human home, ease the parents concerns, give it a chance to thrive, then there won't be a reason for them to swap. The threat is no more and I get my wife back."

"How are you going to do that?" Rory asked.

"By promising them I'll take the child to a human home." The Doctor said as he followed the signs leading him to the Th'chi'rin hiding place.

"And how are you going to do that?" Martha asked. "Give it a home I mean."

The Doctor smiled. It was a fond, faraway kind of smile that said he was thinking of a time and a person from long, long ago. "I know just the couple. They've just recently moved north to teach at St. Andrews." He moved towards a large tree, the biggest in the wood, and then the Doctor suddenly held up his hand to stop his companions. "Wait here."

"Doctor." Rory began to protest.

"Wait here." The Doctor said firmly and then moved towards the tree. There was a large opening in the base of the tree. The Doctor knelt down and began to speak softly. He told the inhabitants that he would not allow them to take his child but promised to find a place for theirs. It took a lot of persuading but after several long minutes the Doctor stood up and turned to his waiting friends. "Martha, do you have a car?"

River and the Tardis argued for what seemed like forever, but in the end River won out. Of course there had been lots of not so idle threats and now the Tardis was pouting but at least River was in control again. When they landed no one but the frozen Mickey was around. After they got Mickey inside River used the scanner to locate the Doctor while Amy tried to revive their guest. When the Tardis landed for the second time River was more then a little surprised to find herself across from an old stone house with a little stone wall in the shadow of the University of St. Andrew's.

"River!" Rory yelled out as he ran towards the Tardis. Throwing his arms around her he asked, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Father dear." River said with a tired smile. "Where's the Doctor?"

Martha smiled. "Taking care of something special"

Everyone turned just in time to see the door of the little house open. The Doctor stepped out with a huge smile on his face. River gasped at the couple now framed in the doorway.

"What?" Amy asked softly. "Who are they?"

"Barbara and Ian." River said in an almost reverent tone of voice.

Everyone else still looked confused. "Who are Barbara and Ian?" Amy asked.

"The Doctor's first human companions." River answered.

Everyone turned to look at the couple again. It was Martha who said, "But, but given the date today, that was fifty human years ago. They're so young."

"Side effect of traveling with him so early on." River said as she watched her husband say his goodbyes to the couple. There was a small bundle, a baby, in Barbara's arms. "What did we miss?"

Martha explained everything while they watched the Doctor who looked as if he were talking to a cluster of bushes. He was promising that the child would have a chance now and there were plenty of places for them to hide and watch.

The second he saw her the Doctor's face lit up. "River!"

"Hello sweetie." She said, her own eyes a light with the sheer joy of seeing him. He hugged her and for the first time in hours she relaxed. Of course the moment her body fully relaxed the strongest contraction of all hit her like a crushing wave. She cried out and let the Doctor and her father help her inside the Tardis. This time when she leapt into flight everyone who was meant to be onboard was onboard. The Doctor and Rory helped River to the bedroom and then Martha shooed everyone but the Doctor and Amy out of the room so she could examine River.

With her husband at her side River was more willing to give in to what was happening and from that moment everything quickly fell into place. The pain really was like nothing River had ever experienced before. Then just when she was at her most tired, her lowest point, something inside her came alive and she pushed through the worse of the delivery. As she collapsed back against her beloved Doctor the room filled with the heated cry of a baby who was both trilled to be born and yet not very happy about leaving it's safe haven either.

"Congratulations you two." Martha said as she cleaned the screaming baby. "It's a girl."

The Doctor left River for just the brief moment it took him to use his sonic screwdriver to cut the umbilical cord and take his now blanket wrapped daughter from Martha. He looked down at the most amazing thing in all the universe and then over at her mother, the other most amazing thing in all the universe. "She's beautiful."

"Of course she is." River said as she took her child into her arms for the first time. She looked down into that tiny little face she'd longed to see for so long and let the tears fall. "Hello Sweetie. Hello my perfect little love. Welcome to the adventure."

Amy watched the scene with tears in her eyes. "Oy, does my granddaughter have a name?"

The Doctor and River looked at each other and smiled. Only they would know what their daughter's Gallifreyan name was. It had taken River ages to get the Doctor to even agree to give her a Gallifreyan name, but once he did they choose one together, one that fit perfectly or so they hoped. That had been harder then choosing her human name. That had come to them one night very recently in fact, during one of their last adventures. They had been in a heated argument with a rather large Judoon and after every statement from it the baby would kick River in a way that she could only describe as sassy. Later when she'd mentioned it to the Doctor she'd said it somehow reminded her of her mother. From that they came up with, "Mia."

"Mia?" Amy asked.

River smiled a bright, loving, adoring smile. "It's short for Amelia."

"Amelia Brook Song." The Doctor said proudly before looking down at his daughter. "Hello Amelia Brook Song. Yes, yes it is. It's very lovely hair and if you're lucky you'll have hair just like hers." Mia gurgled at him and he smiled. "All these people? Way they're your family, Mia. Family and friends, and lots of love for you miss, I promise."


	9. Chapter 9

When strange things happen most people just shrug it off. When really strange things happen most people block it out for the sake of their sanity. She wasn't most people. Like a hand full of others she understood that the strange things were real, and she was part of the reason why all those most people could shrug and forget. Mr. Smith had picked up some strange energy readings coming from a small village about twenty miles from Ealing, and since Sky was off on holiday with Luke, Sarah Jane decided to make the drive over to check things out. From what she could gather the village's children were coming down ill with the same unexplained systems. With the help of K9 Mark VI, her sonic lipstick, and the watch the Doctor had given her, Sarah Jane Smith had been able to track the strange readings to the children's play park. She was following the watch's signal towards the source of the energy readings when she suddenly stopped.

"Did you hear that, K9?" She asked the mechanical dog beside her.

"Negative Mistress." K9 replied. "I did not hear anything."

Sarah Jane stood there for a moment and then sighed. "Suppose I was just hearing things but I could have sworn I'd heard…"

"This way, yes, it's defiantly coming from this direction." The voice said before the man appeared from behind a large tree. The Doctor looked up from his sonic screwdriver and smiled so brightly his eyes lit up like Christmas trees. "Sarah Jane Smith! My Sarah Jane Smith!" He rushed towards her while mumbling to something strapped to his chest. "Yes, I know, but it's not like that. Besides she's not here and what she doesn't know won't hurt me."

Sarah Jane looked on in wonder and bemusement as the Doctor, this much younger version of him that she'll never quite get use too, came towards her in a rush. She only had a few seconds to take him in and what she saw was more then a little odd. It looked as if he were wearing a tweed papoose of some sort, which he was talking to. "Doctor?"

"Sarah Jane." The Doctor repeated, his pure joy at seeing her again written all over his face. "My Sarah Jane." He repeated as he waved his sonic screwdriver at the contraption he was wearing. "Hold this for a moment won't you? That's a dear."

The woman who'd once been his companion stood there holding what the Doctor had passed to her before he darted off in the direction she'd been heading. She watched his retreating form, holding out what he'd handed her, until a soft bubbly gurgle caused her to look at what was in her arms. "Oh dear my." She said in utter shock. "You're a baby."

Mia gurgled again but the woman just stared back at her. Great, another being who couldn't understand a word she was saying, why couldn't everyone speak baby like her Daddy?

Sarah Jane couldn't help but smile. The child had sparkling green eyes, and dark, sandy hair that softly curled. "A very pretty baby."

Ok maybe this woman wasn't so bad. She had good taste in babies, Mia thought. Still, Mummy wasn't going to like this, not one little bit.

When the Doctor came rushing back Sarah Jane looked up at him. "Doctor, this is a baby!"

"Yes I know." The Doctor said as he looked at his sonic, waved it around, then looked at it again. Mia babbled something and he looked up. "What? Oh! Right! Sorry! Sarah Jane Smith, Mia Song. Mia, that is Sarah Jane. I've told you about her." The baby looked at Sarah Jane and then babbled something else at her father. "Yes, well, Mummy isn't here so…"

"Doctor." Sarah Jane said as she looked on in confusion.

"Master can speak baby." K9 said from where he stood waging his tail with joy at seeing his master again. "Master can speak everything."

"K9!" The Doctor squealed as he dropped to his knees and wrapping his arms around the robotic canine "Look at you! You've regenerated! You're all shinny and new! You look good!"

"Affirmative." K9 replied. "So do you Master. K9 likes the bowtie."

The Doctor rubbed the side of the robotic dog's head. "I always knew you were the best dog ever." Then he popped back onto his feet, and went back to scanning. "Hmm, not good, not good at all." He turned to Sarah Jane, smiling at the sight of her again, and then asked. "Are all the children in this village ill?"

"Yes." Sarah Jane answered as she cuddled the baby in her arms. "Started a few days ago. Mr. Smith picked up on some strange readings so I came to investigate."

"Oh my Sarah Jane." The Doctor cooed. "Always looking out for the humans who don't have a clue. Well, my clever Sarah Jane, it would appear that a Pirmoln has set up house near by."

"I've never encountered a Pirmoln." Sarah Jane said as she lightly bounced Mia who was just starting to fuss a little.

"No, you wouldn't have." The Doctor said crossly. "They're not supposed to be here. I forbid it the last time I came across them. They hide in the woods and lore children in close to where they've squatted and feed off their essence, that's why the children are ill. The last time I came across one was in Germany around 1811ish."

Sarah Jane thought for a moment and said, "You mean like in the story of Hansel and Gretel? The witch who cooked up the children and ate them?"

"Yes, yes." The Doctor said. "The Grimm Brothers were always following me about. Annoying lot they were. Bit dark too considering." He checked his sonic again and tutted. Mia babbled something and the Doctor looked up crossly. "Ugly smelly monkey? Amelia Song, that's rude!" The baby sighed and then gurgled, her bright green eyes looking up. The doctor looked up as well. "Oh, that ugly smelly monkey." There was a candy colored monkey with an odd looking ruff around it's neck, in the tree above Sarah Jane and Mia. "Kind of looks like the jammie dodger monkeys from the telly." Mia babbled in a tone that didn't sound very happy. "Yes, quite sorry, didn't mean to scold."

"Doctor." Sarah Jane said softly, interrupting the conversation. "Two things. First, what is that?" She pointed her free hand at the monkey. "And second, if that Pirmoln feeds off the essence of children, do you think perhaps Mia shouldn't be here?"

"Hmm? What?" The Doctor replied just as the sound of Mia's fussing became a little stronger. "Oh! Right! Stupid Doctor!" He thumped himself in the head as he went over and took Mia from Sarah Jane. "Yes I know Mummy is going to be cross. Must you keep bringing that up?" He started heading back towards the tree he'd come out from behind, the Tardis was parked behind it, and then he paused and looked over at Sarah Jane and K9. "Well are you two coming or not?"

To say Sarah Jane was dumbfounded would have been an understatement. She looked down at K9, shrugged, and then of course followed the Doctor to the Tardis. As soon as she stepped inside the Tardis made a happy little trill noise before humming softly. Sarah Jane smiled. Somehow she knew the Tardis was happy to her again as well.

"The monkeys," The Doctor began after placing a soft kiss on Mia's forehead and then putting her into a play cot. "Are the lures. Candy wouldn't work, kids know not to take candy from strangers, but monkeys, how cool are jammie dodger monkeys?" Pulling out his sonic he scanned Mia to make sure she was ok while he continued explaining things to Sarah Jane. "They follow the monkeys into the forest and close to the Pirmoln's dwelling and bam, soups on." When he turned back to look at Sarah Jane she was looking at him oddly. "What?" He looked around to see if something was in the Tardis with him, such as perhaps River, and then relaxed when his wife was no where to be seen. He looked at Sarah Jane again and repeated, "What?"

"She's a little young to be a companion don't you think?" Sarah Jane asked as glanced at the baby before moving closer to the Doctor. "Where did she come from?"

"She came from her mother naturally." The Doctor replied. "And of course she's to young to be a companion."

"Where is her mother?" Sarah Jane asked, assuming the worse, that something had happened to the mother and the Doctor had rescued the baby. "Did something happen to her?"

"No, I don't think so." The Doctor said with an odd look. "Today's her day off because apparently mother's need those, so she's on a spa planet." Mia gurgled. "Yes I know we were suppose to have a quiet day but quite days are boring and we got to see Sarah Jane again."

Sarah Jane watched the Doctor closely, taking in the way he interacted with the baby, how gentle and loving he was. Then it struck her and Sarah Jane's eyes went wide. "Doctor."

"Hmm?" He replied as he looked at her.

"Is she… is she your baby?" Sarah Jane asked.

The Doctor beamed. "Of course she's mine. Doesn't she look like mine?" He held the baby up so their heads were side by side. Mia gurgled. "Yes quite right. You're much prettier. Just like your Mummy."

Shock, pure shock, and happiness for her friend, washed over Sarah Jane's face as she took in this new information. "Doctor?"

"I got married." The Doctor explained as he put Mia down and then walked over to the Tardis controls. "Then we had a baby."

She couldn't help herself. Sarah Jane walked over to him and wrapped her arms around the Doctor in a tight embrace. "I'm so happy for you, Doctor."

The Doctor hugged her back with a fond loving smile on his own face.

When Sarah Jane stepped back she looked over at the cot before asking, "May I?"

"Of course." The Doctor said while compiling bits and pieces of this and that which he then fashioned together into some kind of small device. "She likes you."

Sarah Jane picked Mia up and smiled down at her as she cuddled her. "Well aren't you the luckiest little girl in the world to have such a special daddy." She looked up at the Doctor and asked, "Is she a time lord?"

"Mostly." The Doctor answered. "Her mother is human plus time lord, so Mia's human too."

"Remarkable." Sarah Jane said as she once again turned her attention to Mia. Mia of course loved the attention. She gurgled and babbled and even though Sarah Jane couldn't understand her, she could certainly tell where Mia got it from. She thought about the baby's name for a moment and said, "I knew a woman named Song once, a long time ago; she was a student." She looked up as she said, "Doctor…" But he was gone. "Now where did…"

A moment later the Doctor reappeared with his finished device. He walked over and strapped it around Mia's middle like a belt, and then turned it on. "There. That should keep you nice and safe." Mia babbled. "Yes, should." Mia babbled a little louder. "Ok, it will keep you safe because if it doesn't Mummy will kill me again. Or worse, she'll kill more of my hats." Then he looked at Sarah Jane and said, "Now, about that Pirmoln."

Back out in the play park Sarah Jane watched, enthralled, by the Doctor and his daughter. She had known this man longer then most, knowing him in four out of his eleven incarnations, and never before had she ever seen him so content, so happy. He was still the man she remembered, the adventurous defender of his adoptive people, but at the same time he was so very different. Some might have said the change was due to his no longer being the last time lord, but she'd known him before the war, before he'd become the last of his people, and even then he hadn't been this whole, this at ease. "Doctor, what exactly are we looking for?"

"The feeding place." The Doctor said as he walked beside Sarah Jane, his tweed papoose holding his daughter close to his chest.

"In the story it was a gingerbread house." Sarah Jane said as she thought this all through.

The Doctor nodded. "It was a time of famine and it was especially hard on the peasants of the time. The female Pirmoln that I came across was using food to lure in the children."

"Why children?" Sarah Jane asked.

"Why is it always children?" The Doctor asked as he put a protective hand on Mia's head. "It's their purity."

Sarah Jane simply shook her head at the wrongness of using children that way. They walked a little further before she spotted what looked like a small satellite dish, and then another, four in total, creating a large square. "Doctor, is that what we're looking for?"

The Doctor looked at what his companion was pointing out. He went over and scanned one of the dishes and nodded. "My clever Sarah Jane."

"Now that we've found the feeding spot what do we do?" Sarah Jane asked.

"Follow it to its source." The Doctor said as he scanned and started walking. "Then we do a thing."

"A thing?" Sarah Jane asked with raised eyebrow.

"Yes a thing." The Doctor said in a huff. "Respect the thing. You're as bad as River. Always questioning the thing."

Sarah Jane was smiling. "I can't wait to meet this River Song."

The two adults, the baby and the mechanical dog walked further into the woods until they came to a clearing used by weekenders with caravans. Set up at the end of the area was one lonely looking caravan with what looked like generator outside of it. "That's it." The Doctor said as they hide in the trees.

"What do we do now Doctor?" Sarah Jane asked.

The Doctor took Mia from his chest and once again handed her to his friend. "Hold her a moment if you please." Then crouched down. "K9, I need you to go over to that generator and reprogram it." He used his screwdriver to upload the frequency he needed K9 to use and then watched with a bright grin as the dog rolled off after saying, "Affirmative Master."

"What will that do?" Sarah Jane asked as the Doctor came over to stand side her.

"It'll sour the milk so to speak." The Doctor answered as they walked a long probe come out of K9 that he connected to a port in the generator. There were a few soft beeps from the dog and then he retracted the probe and returned to his master and mistress.

Before the Doctor could give her any more of an explanation a large human looking female came out of the caravan to see what had gone wrong with her siphon. That's when the Doctor went roaring from his hiding place to confront the Pirmoln which morphed from a large human female to a pudgy, hooked noses, pale green skinned, gray feathery haired alien.

"This planet is off limits to you and your kind!" The Doctor scolded. "I thought I made that clear the last time!" The alien replied in a garbled language Sarah Jane didn't understand. "Yes, well, as you can see I am very much alive and this planet is still and always will be under my protection!" Again the alien said something, then a massive arm raised, and the Doctor was forced to duck and roll away. When he rolled onto his knees he pointed his screwdriver at the generator, again changing it's settings, and then he made a mad dash for the trees. Grabbing Sarah Jane by the arm he yelled, "Run!"

Sarah Jane ran. A few moments later there was a loud explosion.

"Are you two alright?" The Doctor asked as he took Mia and cuddled her, she was crying from the loud noise.

"I think so." Sarah Jane replied, her own ears ringing. "What did you do?"

"Put it on a diet." The Doctor answered as they made their way back to where the explosion just happened. He and Sarah Jane stood there and watched as the massive alien shrank until it was the size of a can of soda. Walking over the Doctor picked up the alien by the scruff of his neck.

"What will you do with it?" Sarah Jane asked.

The Doctor just shook his head at the fussy alien and said, "Take it somewhere where it can't hurt anyone. Wanna come?"

Sarah Jane smiled. "Sure, if you don't think your wife will mind."

The Doctor and Sarah Jane took the alien to a planet were it could feed without harming anyone. Sarah Jane loved being in the Tardis again with the Doctor, and playing with Mia, but she had a home, work of her own, and children of her own she needed to get back too. Standing outside the Tardis she smiled at the handsome young man with the bright-eyed baby in his arms. "I'm so happy you're happy." She told him. "Its nice to know I can worry about you a little less."

"You don't have to worry about me, Sarah Jane." The Doctor replied.

She smiled at him with such love. "You're my friend, Doctor. I will always worry about you." She kissed his cheek and then Mia's. "I'll see you both soon I hope."

"You will." The Doctor promised. "And maybe you'll get to meet River next time."

"I'd like that." Sarah Jane said. She stood there and watched as the Tardis disappeared. She was half way to her car when she realized, "River Song, she was the student I'd met." Her smile grew big and bright. "Well, I guess she found her good man after all."

"Affirmative Mistress." K9 replied with a wag of his tail.

When River arrived home she found her husband in the repair swing under the Tardis's control room, and her daughter in a bouncy swing a few feet away. "Hello sweeties." River walked over and picked her daughter up, cuddling her close. "Oh Mummy missed you so much today my little love. Did you have a good day with Daddy?"

The Doctor held his breath, waiting for Mia to rat him out. Mia babbled and gurgled. River laughed. "I'm glad." River said as she walked over to her husband and kissed his cheek before taking Mia off to get her ready for bed. "I'm glad you two had a nice day."

The Doctor smiled. It had been a nice day, the first of many, just him and his little Mia Song.


	10. Chapter 10

Whenever River went off to do whatever it was that River did when she was on her own, leaving the Doctor alone with their daughter Mia, the Doctor and the baby would head out on their own adventures. With his tweed papoose strapped to his chest, Mia snuggled safely inside, the Doctor headed off to strange worlds and hectic time periods. Mia watched as her Daddy defeated crazy aliens and soaked in the attention of his admirers. While River was off exploring this or that Mia was on a vaudevillian stage with her Daddy and Mae West or visiting Julie Andrews on the set of Marry Poppins. She sat on her Daddy's lap while he argued with Charles Dickens, learned to crawl on the deck of Lord Nelson's ship, and threw up all over Charles Darwin. She met Alien prime misters and played with alien children. She watched her Nan play chess with Winston Churchill and she once played dolls with a very young Caroline Kennedy.

Those were just the adventures with her Daddy; she also had her alone time with Mummy. Strapped to her mother's back Mia was exploring ancient ruins and sneaking into the homes of even more famous people from the past. She giggled at the sound of the echoes in tombs, and clapped her hands at the pretty pictures painted on ancient walls. She kept perfectly still, not a sound, as her mother crept into home Thomas Cromwell, the palace of Henry VIII, and the armory of a Sontaran battle ship. She blew raspberries at a pack of Judoon who chases them across an entire planet after her Mummy found an ancient tablet of Judoon mating riturals in collector's vault on the planet. But of all the adventures she had with her Mummy her favorite place to go was Victorian England to visit her Mummy's friend Helena, though the world would know her and yet not know her as H.G. Wells.

As much as Mia loved setting off on adventures with each of her parents her best times were when the three of them were together. The Doctor, River Song and little Amelia in the Tardis. The pure joy in her eyes, the absolute delight of a happy child, bubbled out no matter how much trouble their were in or how fast they were running. In fact after learning to say Mummy and Daddy out loud the next word out of Mia Song's mouth was run. Then there were the quiet times like today. The sun was warm overhead, there was a blanket spread out on the soft green lawn, and a picnic basket set off to the side. River was dozing beside Mia whom she'd put down for a nap while the Doctor ran after something that made his sonic beep. It had been a long time since they'd had a peaceful day like this and River might have been a little to relaxed because she didn't notice when Mia caught sight of something and toddled off after it.

Mia didn't go far, just over to the flowers and scrubs where she'd seen the bouncy white thing walking. It looked like one of the toys in her room on the Tardis, white, plushy, and cute. Only her plushy toy didn't move or giggle like this one did. She drew the little creature out of hiding with a cookie, and just like that she'd made friends with what she would later learn was an Adipose. Once she and the blob were on solid terms it followed her back to the blanket and they played until River stirred. The Adipose wobbled out of sight as soon as River moved so when she sat up all she saw was Mia sitting on the blanket with her favorite little green teddy in her hands. Sitting up and shifted into the louts position the curly haired blonde smiled brightly as she pulled her little girl into her lap.

"Did you have a nice nap, Sweetie?" River asked as she and Mia snuggled. "Mummy did." She added with a soft chuckle. "How about we find your Daddy, hmm? It's never a good sign when he's gone this long." Getting to her feet River took Mia over to the stroller and secured the toddler in before gathering up their things. After tucking away the basket under the stroller, River turned to get the blanket and while her back was turned the Adipose climbed in to the stroller with Mia, who giggled and covered it with her own little blanky.

River searched the park until she found the Doctor who was up in a very tall tree. She would have walked right past him if not for Mia who'd been looking skyward at the birds, her little arm suddenly shooting out and her delighted call of, "Daddy!" River looked up at her husband with her hands on her hips as he looked down at her with a sheepish grin. "You're stuck aren't you?"

The Doctor huffed and adjusted his bowtie. "Of course I'm not stuck!" He protested but the protest fell short when he wobbled a little and then grabbed the branch for dear life. "Ok, maybe I'm stuck a little."

"I swear it's like having three children at times." River grumbled as she proceeded to retrieve her husband from the tree. "At least the girls are better behaved."

Once the Doctor was out of the tree, still looking very sheepish for getting stuck in the first place, they headed back to the Tardis. They were supposed to go to her parents' home for Rory's birthday, and when they landed River, with Mia settled on her hip, followed the Doctor out the door and into her parents' back garden. There was a warm smile on her face at first, she'd really been missing her parents and little brother and was looking forward to spending time with them, but as she and the Doctor made their way towards the back door she felt as if something was off. Looking around the garden she noticed some blaring absences and it made her groan. "I knew I should have driven." She said with a shake of her head before calling after her husband, "Doctor, you've got the time wrong again."

"What?" The Doctor replied as he charged into the house as if he had every right to. "Of course I don't have the time wrong."

"There's no play set in the garden." River pointed out. "There's no swing in the tree." Inside she looked around the kitchen and once again shook her head. Though Vincent was to old for one her parents kept a highchair on hand for Mia and there wasn't one, nor were there any crayon pictures on the fridge, or any photos of the kids. "There's no toys, no mess, no signs of Vincent at all. His dinosaur tea mug isn't even in the dish rack. We've come to early in their timeline." She sighed, and then looked into her daughter's eyes as she tapped her little nose playfully the way the Doctor often taped hers. "And we were doing so well."

Mia smiled at the gesture and then asked, "Nan?"

"I don't think Nan's here, Sweetie." River told her daughter.

Mia pouted. "Gamps? Vinny?"

River glared at her husband when Mia's lips began to tremble.

"We're right when we're suppose to be, River." The Doctor huffed before turning soft eyes on his daughter. "I'm sure Nan and Gramps are around honey. We'll find them."

In the lounge Brian Williams heard voices. He didn't know the woman's but he knew the man's. Making his way to the kitchen with a warm smile he was expecting to see the Doctor, his son and his daughter-in-law. What he got was the Doctor and a strange woman who looked oddly familiar somehow. "Back already are you?"

The Doctor's face lit up. "Brian Pond!"

"Williams." Brian and River both corrected at the same time. Brian looked at the woman and gave her a soft smile before turning back to the Doctor. "That was a quick trip. Where are they then? And who's this?"

"This is River and Mia and where's who?" The Doctor asked as he titled his head to the side.

Brian gave the Doctor a look while River rolled her eyes. "Rory and Amy."

"Aren't they here?" The Doctor asked.

"No, they left with you two weeks ago." Brian replied while giving the Doctor a glare that made River hide a smirk behind her baby's head.

"Oh." The Doctor said uneasily as he scratched at his cheek. "Looks like you were right, River. We're to early. Off we go than."

He was trying to rush his wife and daughter out the door when Mia, who's attention had been split between looking for her grandparents and watching the Adipose that was following her, suddenly caught sight of her great-grandfather. "Hi!"

Brian blinked as the strawberry blonde child in the woman's arms stretched out her arms to him.

"No, no, not time for that yet." The Doctor said as he tried to block Mia's view of Brian.

Mia glared at her daddy. Then she broke out into a long telling off in a mix of words she knew and baby speak.

The Doctor shook his head. "No, no it's to soon." Then he spun on his heel to look at Brian. "Two weeks since what?"

"The cubes." Brian replied.

"Ahhh!" The Doctor said. "Yes! The slow invasion! Intergalactic exterminators! Yes, I remember!" Then he turned back to his wife. "Yes, to soon. Last trip they took before, you know, and then, you know, and then Vincent."

"I told you." River replied. She'd been watching her grandfather closely. She had known him in a different life and he'd known her as Rory's troublesome friend Mels. Oh how she longed to know him properly, to have him know her. But even after the wedding, after seeing the Doctor for themselves, explaining River to their parents had just been to hard and complicated for Amy and Rory. It was easy to live with when she was bouncing around in everyone's timelines but now that they were all pretty much on the same ride, that longing to know more about her family beyond her parents, her husband and her child was stronger than ever. What would it be like, River wondered, to have grandparents?

Brian was staring. He was trying to put his finger on why River looked so familiar and yet he was sure he'd never met her. Something in her eyes reminded him of Amy and something in her smile reminded him of Rory. During the year the Doctor stuck around he would take off every once in awhile and Amy or Rory would say, "Give our love to, River." The Doctor had called this woman River. When he'd asked who River was, Amy would get this look in her eyes, and Rory would give her this special little smile. "You're someone very special to them."

"Yes." River said softly. "Yes, very special." She paused for a moment while she debated wither she should say anything. Then River smiled, took a breath and said, "I'm their daughter."

"Their daughter?" Brian repeated while the shock of the statement washed over him. Then as he realized that Amy and Rory had this whole other life with the Doctor, finding out they had a daughter really wasn't that much of a stretch. They could be living out a while lifetime and he'd never know it because what might seem like years to them were months for him or visa versa. A warm loving smile tugged at Brian's lips as he said, "Might have known. Haven't seen hair like that since my own Nan was around."

River let out the breath she'd been holding when Brian walked over and hugged her. She absolutely melted at how warm and loving the embrace was.

When Brian stepped back he smiled while reaching out his hand, which Mia gladly took. "And this little one is yours?"

River nodded, her smile bright and happy. "Amelia, but we call her Mia."

After that there really was no point in not telling Brian everything. Well, almost everything. They talked about River, left out Vincent, and swore him to secrecy when it came to Mia. He had no problem keeping the secret. In all honesty he was just happy and relived to know that his kids had a future and that traveling with the Doctor wouldn't led to them being some of the few who died. The more he watched her the more he could see Amy and Rory in River. She had Amy's fierceness and Rory's compassion. She was brilliant, and spunky, and so very clearly the Doctor's wife. After a particular comment about the Doctor's behavior Brian couldn't help but chuckle and ask, "How long have you to been married?"

They hadn't gotten to that part yet so the Doctor had to ask, "How'd you know we were married?"

"You mean other then the baby who keeps refereeing to you as Daddy and to me as Mummy?" River teased with a roll of her eyes.

Brian smiled warmly as he explained, "Your Nan would bark at me like that, the way you just did him. She'd give me that same roll of her eyes that normally meant oh bless him for being such a dolt."

"Wait," The Doctor said in shock. "Is that what that look means?"

River patted his thigh and smiled sweetly. "Of course not Sweetie."

Brian just smiled and hid his amusement behind his mug of tea.

Of course there was a reason why they'd been pulled back to this point in the timeline, and it wasn't just so River could finally meet her grandfather. Following the attempted extermination of the human race an alien race of scavengers had shown up to pick away at what would have been left if the Shakri had been successful. It wasn't hard to send them packing, like most scavengers they were crowds and didn't want a confrontation. Because the hospital had been the location for the gateway that's where the scavengers had shown up, and when things started getting weird the Tardis had alerted them to it using River's handheld device.

"Are you sure you should be bringing her along?" Brian asked as they made their way to the hospital with Mia safely tucked away in her baby bjorn, peeking out at the world through her mother's mass of curls.

"Do it all the time." The Doctor said as he followed the beeping on his sonic screwdriver. "Time baby, time babies love this kind of thing."

"Time baby?" Brian asked.

River put a reassuring hand on his arm. "I'll explain it later."

As it turns out River would also end up having to explain why she was so handy with a gun. With the Doctor off retrieving what had been stolen it had been up to her to convince their uninvited guests to leave. River's way of encouraging them was taking several out with her blaster and then grinning like a Cheshire cat as she said, "If I were you I'd gather up your wounded and run."

"Run!" Mia repeated.

Brian was left in awe.

That sense of awe when it came to his granddaughter never really left. Years later, when River and the Doctor finally showed up in the proper timeline, he felt it all over again when the Tardis appeared in the back garden once more.

"Mummy!" Vincent called out. "Melody's here!"

As soon as River stepped out of the Tardis Vincent was crashing into her legs, wrapping his arms around her in a hug. The five year old had yet to shake the enthrallment he had with his big sister, and something told everyone he never really would. Lifting his head Vincent gave his sister a huge grin, "Hello Sweetie."

River laughed and scooped the boy into her arms for a proper hug. "Hello Sweetie."

"Oi, you lot." Amy scolded as she came out the backdoor. "You're late!"

"I'm sorry, Mother." River said as she set Vincent down and took his hand. "The Doctor got it wrong again."

"I did not!" The Doctor said as he came out with Mia. "We were needed so it wasn't a mistake."

River was smirking. "Well I suppose you have a point."

"Besides, you got to meet Brian and shoot people, so don't go acting like you didn't enjoy yourself." The Doctor scolded.

"I kinda figured that's what happened." Amy said before kissing her daughter's cheek and taking her granddaughter from the Doctor. "I suddenly had memories I didn't have before of Brian telling us about meeting our daughter."

Inside the house Brian and Rory were arguing over how to go about making dinner. River couldn't keep the smile off her face as she walked into the room. "Hi Dad, Granddad."

"River!" Brian said excitedly, beating Rory to the woman for a hug.

"This really isn't fair." Rory pouted. "How come I have to share River with my Dad, Vinny, and the Doctor but Amy doesn't have to share with anyone?"

"I don't share." Amy said simply with a look that said she just barely shared their children with Rory let alone anyone else.

While the adults talked in the kitchen Vincent and Mia were relegated to the play area in the lounge. They were sitting on the floor, Mia's little tag along peaking out from it's hiding place to get her attention. Mia giggled and pointed. Vincent looked, his eyes going a bit wide. "What's that?"

"Fred." Mia answered.

The kids played with Fred the Adipose until Rory came to get them for dinner. The little blobby alien stayed hidden until Mia was taken up to River's room and tucked into her cot for the night. Then it climbed in and snuggled down under the blanket with her, completely unnoticed even when River checked on Mia before crawling into bed for the night herself.

A few hours just shy of dawn bright lights and a slight rumble awaked the whole house. The Doctor and River dashed to the window to see what was going on and was greeted by the sight of several large spaceships hovering overhead. Dashing from the room in his pajamas and bare feet the Doctor ran down the stairs and out into the street. Whipping out his sonic he began to scan. River, Amy, and Rory all took a few extra moments to put on robes and footwear. When they joined the Doctor out in the street River simply asked, "Who?"

The Doctor had a very cross look on his face when he answered. "Those are Adipose ships."

"Adipose?" River repeated. "They're not allowed on Earth."

"I know." The Doctor said. "I sent them away last time." He flicked his sonic to change the setting and then scanned again. "Those aren't nursery ships."

River was just about to ask what kind of ships they were when several beams of light began to shoot out from the ships. They were transporting things down to the surface. The Doctor, River and the Ponds watched as those lights transported what looked like robots down to the surface. Once the robots were on the ground they began rolling off in different directions while multicolored streams of light came out of their eyes, spilling out onto the ground as if they were looking for something.

"What are they?" Rory asked.

"Nanny-bots." The Doctor answered.

They watched as the robotic nannies scanned and searched for whatever it was they were looking for, but when they came across a human, their search became very aggressive, harming the scared looking man they were encountering. "What are they looking for?" River asked as she and the Doctor and Amy moved to stop the robot before it could hurt the man.

"I have no idea but we're about to find out." The Doctor said, his anger very clear in the tone of his voice. He didn't like to be challenged and having an alien race he'd already dealt with return so blatantly ticked him off.

"No, no, you go." Rory said with a roll of his eyes when he found himself being left behind. "I'll just stay here with the kids."

"No, you go along." Brian said when he suddenly appeared at his son's side. He'd be awoken from his own bed and had jumped right into his car and headed for his son's house. "I'll stay, you go on."

Rory gave his dad a smile and ran off after his wife, daughter and best friend. After freeing the man from the nanny-bot the Doctor began scanning it. He tried to fiddle with it but this just got the attention of two other bots and before they knew it the nanny-bots were attacking with what appeared to be leaser generated school canes and leather-soled slippers. Just as River blasted one of the nanny-bots another caught her across the back of her bare legs with it's glowing red cane, while grabbing her by the upper arm, and it made River yelped out in pain and struggle to get away.

"Oi! Mary Poppins!" Amy called out. She'd heard River's yelp and was instantly drawn to what was going on with her daughter. Grabbing the first thing she could get her hands on, a fallen tree branch, she closed in on the robot just as it landed a second blow to River's legs. "Get your hands of my little girl!" Amy shouted as she drew the branch back and then brought it forwards with all her might, breaking it over the nanny-bot's metal head. "She's a good girl!" Amy said as she shoved what remained of the stick in her hand into an opening on the side of the robot's head, causing it to let go of River who quickly moved away. Amy gave the robot a shove, causing it to fall. She glared at the thing as she added, "If anyone's going to give her a smack it'll be me."

River wasn't sure wither to laugh or take her mother's comment seriously.

Inside the Pond's home Brian was trying to reassure a frightened Vincent and sooth a wailing Mia. He had them upstairs in Vincent's room because it was towards the back of the house and all the action was out front. When nothing he tried worked on his great-great daughter he went back to River's room to get her a soothing object. "What's this little Mia?" He asked as he picked up Fred the Adipose. "Never seen one of these before."

Mia sniffled as she pulled the wiggly blobby Adipose close and hugged it while saying, "Fred."

"What an interesting toy." Brian mused as he watched it seemingly snuggle into his great-grand daughter's embrace. With Mia finally settled they returned to Vincent's room where he gathered up his grandson and settled on the bed where he told them stories.

"Look!" Rory said as day broke and they could see a bit easier. "They're all heading for our house!"

All four adults went running, fighting and shoving their way past the remaining nanny-bots until they were inside. "Whatever they're looking for it must me inside!" River said.

"What's inside my house they want?" Amy asked as she and Rory shoved the door closed.

"They're nanny-bots maybe they're after the kids?" Rory offered up which sent panic through the hearts of both mothers.

The Doctor's attention was on his sonic and without a word to the others he dashed upstairs. The others followed and all four burst into Vincent's room. The Doctor stormed over to the bed and there in his sleeping daughter's arms was Fred the Adipose. "That's it! That's what they've been looking for!" Turning on his heel he glared at River. "Your daughter's smuggled an Adipose onto the planet!"

"Don't you dare be cross with her!" River told her husband firmly. "She gets it from you."

"From me?" The Doctor asked sounding a little put off.

"Yes, from you." River replied tartly. Maybe a little to tartly but she'd been smacked repeatedly over the last hour and she was in a bit of pain. "You're the one who brought home a triceratops that spent over a month recovering in the medical bay."

Brian smirked. "Tricky."

"Yes, well." The Doctor said with a bit of a smirk that he quickly wiped away. "My dinosaur didn't come with an army of evil nanny-bots!" Turning back to Mia who was now awake and very cranky the Doctor tried to take Fred from her arms but she was having none of it. "Now come on Mia, you can't keep it, give it to Daddy before it's people destroy the whole village. It has to go back where it belongs."

"No Daddy!" Mia said as she held a little more tightly to Fred.

River stood there with her arms folded over her chest and a cross look on her face. She let her husband struggle for a moment before stepping in, "Sweetie, Fred needs to go back to his Mummy and Daddy. Give him to Daddy please."

Mia sniffled, huge tears welling in her pretty green eyes.

Downstairs the nanny-bots were breaking through the door, causing a loud clamor of noise.

River turned her head towards the sound and then back to her daughter, "Amelia, give Daddy the Adipose and let him take it back to its parents. Now young lady."

Mia glared at her mother, but then she gave Fred a cuddle and said, "Bye Fred." Before handing it off to her father.

The Doctor smiled sweetly and kissed Mia's head. "Good girl."

Once Fred had been returned to them the Adipose recalled all the nanny-bots and left. While Rory and Brian repaired the front door Amy tended to the rather nasty welts on River's skin. Once she was sure her daughter would be all right Amy disappeared upstairs. Vincent was asleep downstairs on the sofa in the lounge but Mia was with the Doctor in River's room. The toddler was still ticked off over loosing her friend and nothing the Doctor said seemed to make things better.

"Give me that child." Amy said as she took Mia from him. "Go downstairs and check on your wife. She's pouting." Once they were alone Amy carried Mia to her room. With her granddaughter on her hip she pulled open the wardrobe doors and pulled an old yellow suitcase from its depths. "I have something much better then some old fat baby." Amy told Mia as she opened the case. She pulled out the handmade rag dolls of herself and the Doctor and smiled as she ran her thumb over the old ragged man. Then she held it out to Mia who took it and hugged it tight while Amy sat on the bed with Mia in her lap. "Let me tell you about my ragged man, Amelia Song."


	11. Chapter 11

Outside a soft snow fell, not much, just enough to make the cold winter air sparkle as if the wind were blowing around flecks of glitter. Inside the house was warm and lit up with strands of fairy lights and candles, a flickering fire and the smiles of a family gathered for the holiday. Christmas was always spent at the Pond's. River and Mia came in from the country estate or they'd come in with the Doctor if they were traveling with him. Jenny came in from Cardiff full of stories about her own adventures with Torchwood, or with the Doctor. Brian would arrive while Amy, Rory and Vincent were off Christmas Eve morning visiting her parents. To this day Augustus and Tabetha Pond swore that the Doctor showing up at Amy and Rory's wedding never happened and that someone had spiked the cake, so it was rather impossible to explain not only the Doctor's presence on Christmas but River's, Mia's, and Jenny's as well.

Sitting near the tree six year old Mia and nine year old Vincent were playing with the new toys that River's friend Helena had sent them from America. Of course their pretend play quickly shifted into imagining the new toys were actually aliens invading Earth, which then led to an old and on going argument between the two.

Vincent heaved a heavy sigh while brushing his short messy ginger hair from his forehead. "Why can't I be the Doctor this time? I'm always the Companion."

"Oh Vinny." Mia replied in a firm but airy way that would remind any adult who knew her of River. "We've been over this. I'm a Time Lady. You're Human. That means I get to be the Doctor and you get to be the Companion."

Eyes the same shade of green as Rory's narrowed as Vincent glared at Mia. "That's dumb, Mia! You're Human too! Why don't you be the Companion this time and I'll be the Doctor."

Rory walked into the lounge and instantly heard the slightly raised voices of his son and granddaughter over the softly playing Christmas music and smirked. Those two were both so much like Amy that one day they were going to cause a lot of damage, he just knew it. Walking over he said firmly, "If you two can't agree on how to play your game then pick another game."

Both children looked up at him and then turned to each other. A silent conversation was had and an agreement met. Smiles broke out on their faces and in unison they shouted, "Torchwood!"

"I'm Jack!" Vincent said as he jumped to his feet, picking up figures that would be their aliens.

"I'm Gwen!" Mia replied as she grabbed her new grappler toy and dashed off after Vincent.

As the Last Centurion walked through the lounge and down the hall to the kitchen he simply shook his head. Normal kids played cops and robbers, knights and pirates, but his kids played alien catching or artifact finding super secret agents and timelords. There really wasn't a chance of either of them growing up to be mundane and normal, not with the company their adults kept around, that was for sure.

River was moving between the kitchen and the dinning room, helping her mother set up for a nice family tea. Jenny was following her. From the moment the young woman, who apparently was feeling the need to act all of fifteen, had seen River she'd been on and on about Dyonisus VIII, a planet in the zero-four-zero sector of the Phi system that was nothing more than the universe's biggest party planet. River herself had been there many, many times, and knew first hand the kind of happenings that went down there. For the last hour Jenny had been begging her to borrow her vortex manipulator to visit the planet. "Jenny." River said sharply, her voice locked into Mum mode. "I said no."

"But Mum!" Jenny complained. "It's the only way I can get there!"

"No child of mine is going to Dyonisus VIII." River said sternly. "That planet is inappropriate at the best of times. It's not a safe place for any young woman."

"And how old were you the first time you went?" Jenny huffed.

River bristled a bit. Her first time had been shortly after leaving the hospital following Berlin. Just enough of Mels had lingered to cause River to be rather rebellious for about a year following her regeneration. A twinge of a smile tugged at River's lips. She knew a few people who would say that rebellious nature never left, and that it was all River not just Mels. Still she just didn't fell comfortable with sending Jenny off to a planet like that, especially alone. Maybe it was kind of hypocritical, and yes she knew Jenny could take care of herself and then some, but River was just too much the girl's mum to agree to this. No parent would send their kid off to a planet full of sex, drink, and every other sinful thing the universe came come up with.

"See, you weren't much older than me were you?" Jenny asked. "You might have even been younger!"

"My age is complicated." River replied.

Amy snorted as she carried in a platter.

"So is mine!" Jenny argued. "Mum please!"

River gave her mother a soft glare before turning back Jenny. "No."

Jenny groaned. "Nan! Tell her I'm not a child!"

"Oh no." Amy said holding up her hands. "Don't drag me into this."

Jenny was a second away from stomping her foot.

"How do you even know about Dyonisus VIII?" River asked her stepdaughter.

"Jack said…" Jenny started.

River cut her off. "I'm going to kill Harkness. Repeatedly."

The argument would have continued but Vincent and Mia ran into the room, still playing Torchwood. "Jenny!" Mia said. "You're a weevil!"

She would do anything for her baby sister so Jenny smiled and off she went to give Mia and Vincent a Weevil to chance. After three near misses in the kitchen River finally said, "Take it outside." As Mia ducked between her legs, nearly knocking her off her feet. She pointed to the backdoor while giving them all a look. All three children headed for the door and she rolled her eyes. "Coats, scarves, and Mia put shoes on your feet please." She paused a moment before adding, "And socks!"

Amy chuckled softly at the exasperated look on River's face. "It's a phase." She reassured her daughter. Mia had taken a keen liking to doing everything barefoot. Then thinking of Jenny's recent need to argue with River she added, "For both of them."

"That child would walk around barefoot in any condition." River groaned. "At this rate her first regeneration will be triggered by a fatal foot injury."

The red-haired Scot chuckled again as she put a reassuring hand on River's arm. "Speaking of fatal injuries. Where is your husband? He's late."

"It's Christmas, Mother." River replied with a look that said that was a silly question. "Something somewhere at some point in time has gone completely wrong. He'll be here as soon as he fixes it."

After dinner, after bathes and putting on pajamas covered in reindeers and penguins and snowmen, after finally calming down and settling down for the night, snuggled on the sofa in the lounge, wrapped in mothers' arms, the quiet of night was broken and the story being read was drowned out by the all to familiar sound of a Tardis with her parking break on. River rolled her eyes and groaned as a finally pacified Mia was suddenly switched on again at the sound.

"Daddy's here!" The little girl with bouncing curls of strawberry blonde hair squeaked as she launched herself from her mother's embrace to bolt for the door.

When the Doctor walked into the lounge where his family was waiting, his daughter awkwardly perched on his hip, he smiled brightly as he said, "Come along Ponds!"

She wanted nothing more then to look cross at her husband but River just couldn't. He stood there with a Christmas red bowtie and braces that matched the red detailing of a new tweed jacket, and a Santa hat perched crookedly on his head. The child like smile on his ageless face, the innocent spark in his old eyes, it was more than River could handle; melting away any and all annoyance she might have felt. "Sweetie?" She questioned as she rose gracefully to her feet and then walked over to him with a loving smile. "Come along where?"

When he looked at his beloved River the Doctor's face lit up. Reaching up he tapped her on the nose, a sign of affection between them, and said, "It's a surprise, River!"

"Doctor," Rory said as he watched Mia and Vincent run off to get their coats. When they returned, still in their pajamas and slippers, coats and scarves in place, he could do nothing more then give in. "I'll get our coats."

The planet they landed on was covered in snow and ice. The prefect planet for an entire world dictated to all things Christmas. The Tardis appeared next to a red and white candy cane pole and when the Doctor opened the door a burst of cold air filled the inside. Stepping out into the cold, snow crunching under his boots, the Doctor smile as Mia squeaked delightedly in his ear. Since the ground was covered in snow and ice, Mia was on his back piggyback style, her yellow coat covered arms around his neck, penguin dotted flannel covered legs sticking out through his arms, her penguin slipper covered feet twitching with excitement. "Where are we Daddy?"

"The North Pole of course!" The Doctor said excitedly. His smile brightened at the soft gasp of awe he heard in his ear. With his daughter on his back, his wife at his side, and his family following behind the Doctor lead the Ponds into Santa's village.

Of course things didn't go off exactly as the Doctor had planned. The neighboring planet was all about Easter, each planet in the sector was dedicated to a different human holiday, and the Doctor had managed to land them during a time of planetary war. The Christmas planet was being bombarded with Easter egg bombs while launching tree ornament bombs back. It wasn't the first time Mia was caught in the middle of a battle like this. When she was four her father took her to a planet where it's moons were fighting. Not the people on the moons, the actual moons. The fight came to an astonishing end when a four-year-old Mia informed the moons that they were, "Being very naughty and I'm going to tell your Mummy!" Apparently even moons were wary of cross mummies.

This conflict wouldn't be so easily nullified. Something had drawn the Easter planet off its orbit, causing it to get close to the Christmas planet. If something wasn't done and done quickly the war would come to an end because the planets orbital pulls tore each other apart. The Doctor sent Amy, Rory and Jenny to the Easter planet to try and defuse things there while the Doctor, River, Mia and Vincent stayed on the Christmas planet. The kids got to meet the planet's Santa and some elves, and once it was discovered what was drawing the other planet close they got to ride flying reindeer to the mountain at the center of the planet. Mia doubled with her father and Vincent with his sister, and even though he was older than Mia and not so much into the whole idea of Father Christmas, the boy was in complete wonderment.

When they got to where they need to be, the opening of a system of tunnels into the mountain, the Doctor was at a loss. Deep inside the mountain was a new power source, something so strong that it had pulled the Easter planet out of its orbit. Kneeling in the snow the Doctor could only get his head and shoulders into the doorway, the halls and passageways dug into the mountain were short and narrow. Getting to his feet he turned to look at River who stood in the blustering snowy wind with Mia and Vincent. "There's no way we'll fit."

"Silly Daddy." Mia said with a very River like shake of her head. "You're not elf sized."

The Doctor looked at Mia for a long moment before replying, "But you and Vincent are." Wiping out his sonic screwdriver he flicked it on while walking over to them and taking River's handheld device from her belt.

"Doctor." River said in a tone of warning. "No. No, absolutely not!"

"They can get to the power source River." The Doctor said as he worked. "We can't."

"They're children!" River argued.

"We're Ponds, Mummy." Mia said as she looked up at River with the same look of delight in her eyes that the Doctor got before an adventure.

Vincent nodded his agreement. "We can do it, Melody."

River was not happy but as the planet rumbled from the force of the Easter planet's presence in its orbit, she knew they had very little choice. If these two planets collided it would set off a chain reaction. "Be very, very careful my loves."

"This will show you the way." The Doctor said as he handed the handheld device to Vincent. Then he handed the sonic to Mia. "Point that at the big glowing ball when you find it until the ball goes dark. Then flick it once, and keep pointing it until the ball gets hard like piece of coal."

"Ok Daddy!" Mia said as she tucked the sonic into the pocket of her pajamas.

"Vincent." River said in a soft firm tone. "Give me your wrist." When her brother held out his arm, she took off her vortex manipulator and put it on his wrist. She pressed the buttons, programming it. "If things get to dangerous, if you get into trouble, make sure Mia puts her hand on the strap and press this button." She showed him the activate button. "It will bring you both right back here."

Vincent nodded. "I will. I'll protect her."

River smiled and dropped a kiss on Vincent's head and then on Mia's. She walked the children to the opening and watched as they entered the passageway and then turned to glare at her husband.

The Doctor gave her a warm smile. "They'll be fine."

"She's just a baby." River huffed.

"She's the daughter of River Song." The Doctor reassured. "She's going to be amazing."

Mia and Vincent made their way through the tunnels until they got to a locked door. River's handheld help them get the door unlocked and Vincent pushed it open. Mia did just as her Daddy said, taking his sonic and pointing it at the huge ball of energy in the center of the cavern. As the sonic worked things became unstable. The mountain began to shake, rocks began to fall, but Mia continued to do what her Daddy said. Vincent moved closer, fear building inside. Finally after what seemed like forever the glowing ball went out, Mia flicked the sonic, and soon the power source was as hard and black as coal.

As the Easter planet began to return to it's natural orbit both planets shook from the force of it. Inside the mountain the cavern and tunnels began to collapse. Outside, as rocks fell and dust billowed out of the opening River rushed towards it with her daughter's and brother's names on her lips. The Doctor caught her by the waist and held on to her. "River don't!"

"I have to get to them!" She yelled back. "Let me go!"

They struggled until there was a sudden crack of thunder and a bright flash of light. River and the Doctor turned and as soon as she saw them standing there River rushed over to the kids. She threw her arms around them, drawing them both close and holding them both so tight.

When they got home it was just half an hour since they'd left, which was good because it took several hours to get Mia and Vincent to settle down. The two couldn't stop talking about the adventure they'd had, despite the looks their stories caused the Doctor to get from the Ponds. With Mia tucked safely into her bed River could finally relax. After watching her daughter sleep for a while she went to find her mother. This knot in her stomach, it must be how Amy felt when River did dangerous things. It was a little ball of fear and pride and River wasn't sure if she liked it or not.

Amy was taken by surprise by the force of River's hug. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"Nothing Mother." River said softly. "It's Christmas. I just felt like hugging my Mum, that's all."

Amy knew better but she didn't push it. River wasn't the short to get overly emotional and yet Amy never had any trouble figuring the woman out. "I love you too, Melody."


	12. Chapter 12

School days for the Pond women were never easy. For Amy it had been her stories about the Raggedy Doctor that caused her the most problems. For River, it had been all the trouble she'd gotten in to as Mels. For Mia it was all the stuff she knew to be true but everyone else was clueless about. She knew that Henry VIII had an unknown secret wife because that wife was her Nan. The reason why Elizabeth I was the Virgin Queen, was because she was waiting on the Doctor to marry her, and because of the patricidal definition of virginity. She knew who inspired Vincent Van Gogh's sunflower paintings, that the figure in the Scream was a real life monster, that a Dalak served tea to Winton Churchill, and that Cybermen lurked in the cellars of department stores. It was a lot for a kid to keep bottled up and sometimes things slipped through, and sometimes that led to Mia being scolded for her imagination.

"Amelia." Ms. Collins said gently but firmly. "Though I'm impressed that a child of your age was able to write about a book as complex as The Time Machine, you can't make things up about the author."

Mia looked insulted as she sat in front of the Head Teacher's desk. "I didn't make anything up."

"Amelia." The teacher said with a look that said she was disappointed. "H.G. Wells is not a woman. He was a man." She showed Mia a picture. "That's him."

"That's not H.G." Mia sighed. "That's her brother Charlie."

Ms. Clark shook her head. "H.G. Wells is not a woman."

"Yes she is." Mia argued. "She's a woman and she's living in America with her wife and two children."

Needless to say Mia brought a letter home to her mother that day. River felt bad for her little girl when stuff like this happened but she was also very proud. Mia wouldn't let people berate her into going against what she believed, what she knew was the truth. She did have to talk to Mia again about what she could and couldn't say to people, but she wasn't going to scold her for what happened. How could she? Especially after reading the book report and seeing the pride in which Mia spoke of Helena. Mia got her first diary that day, a place where she could let out all of the stuff in her life that the outside world wouldn't, couldn't understand.

As much as Mia was like her mother and grandmother she was also very much like her father. She loved getting lost in the vastness of the universe, exploring, learning, showing all of time and space to someone special, and finding every little bit of trouble the universe had to offer. She was also the kind of person, like her father, who didn't take to being bored.

River had been working in the study the Tardis had created for her while the Doctor tinkered under the control room. Mia was bored, she hated being bored, and when she was bored she didn't always have the best of ideas.

"Doctor!" River's voice rang out. It reverberated off the walls in that way that made the Doctor want to run for his life. This woman did know how to properly kill him after all. When she burst into the room he could almost see the steam coming out of her ears.

"River, dear, you roared?" He said as he looked up at her nervously. Why was he so nervous? He hadn't done anything, lately, had he?

"Where is your daughter?" River asked as she came down the stairs.

The Doctor blinked and pulled at his collar. The only time Mia was his daughter was when she'd done something to royally tick her mother off. "Isn't she in the library?"

River shook her head as she continued to glare at her husband. "No, she isn't. I've checked everywhere. She isn't here."

"River." The Doctor said softly. "She has to be. I would have noticed if she'd left the Tardis."

"Not if she used my vortex manipulator." River tossed the open wooden box with the picked lock that she normally kept the device in on the console, and then grabbed the monitor and turned it on. The Tardis was too big to check on foot so she used internal sensors to scan for Mia.

"She wouldn't." The Doctor said, looking a little insulted that River would even suggest it. His little girl would never steal her mother's vortex manipulator and use it. She wouldn't even think of doing that. She was a good girl. He stared at the empty box on the console and sighed softly. Well, maybe she would. "Oh."

"Yes, oh." River said with annoyance. Most of her annoyance came from River's over protectiveness and she knew that. With the kind of childhood she'd had, and knowing all the dangers that lurked out there for the child of the Doctor, the child of River Song, how could she not be over protective? Mia could be anywhere. She could be hurt or in danger or in over her head and River had no idea where to find her. She did however have a pretty good idea as to where to start.

Amy was surprised to find her daughter and the Doctor when she opened her front door. They'd just come for a visit the weekend prior and she wasn't expecting them back so soon. "River, Doctor…"

"Have you seen Mia?" River asked her mother as they were ushered inside.

"No." Amy said with a look of sudden worry and a little fear. "Mia's missing?"

River sighed. She hadn't meant to scare her mother like that. She hadn't been thinking. When it came to her little girl keeping her cool wasn't as easy as it normally was. "She took my vortex manipulator. Apparently she's decided to take her very first solo adventure without telling us. The Tardis traced her jump here."

That's all Amy needed to hear before she turned and yelled up the stairs, "Vincent! Vincent, is Mia up there with you!?"

It was Rory who replied as he appeared at the top of the stairs "He isn't here. Mia's missing?"

The Doctor was smirking.

"What are you smiling about?" Amy asked her best friend slash son-in-law.

"Mia has her first companion." The Doctor said proudly before sniffling softly. "They grow up so quickly."

When the Tardis materialized River, the Doctor, Amy and Rory stepped out only to find themselves in what appeared to be some kind of music venue. They looked a little confused as they made their way into the crowds. There were an awful lot of kids around with less than thrilled to be there looking parents. "When and where are we?" Rory asked.

The Doctor stuck his tongue out, smacked his lips, and then announced they were in London circa 1998. Wembley Arena 14th of April 1998 to be precise.

Amy got this odd look on her face after hearing the date and place. Why did it seem so familiar? Then the music started and it all came rushing back. She knew where and when they were and why it felt so memorable. So did River. Amy nearly died laughing when the music registered with her daughter. The look of utter horror on her daughter's face at the possibility of discovery was too much and despite the glare River shot her she gave in and laughed.

"Is that…" The curly haired woman said with a mix of surprise and disgust. "Oh no."

"Spice Girls!" Amy said a little to brightly.

"She has all of time and space, all of reality, and she chooses to go to a Spice Girls concert?" River gave her husband a death glare. "I blame you for this."

"Me?" The Doctor squeaked. "Why me?"

"She gets all her bad taste from you." River replied as they moved through the crowds.

"Oi!" Amy said sharply as she gave her daughter the same glare River had been giving the Doctor. "You can't blame him for this one, Melody!"

"Why not?" The Doctor asked while giving Amy a grateful look for reining River in.

Before Amy could answer another voice rang out. "Oi! Mels! Wait up!"

"Come on!" Mels yelled back. "I don't want to miss a minute!"

The four adults all stopped; frozen to the spot, just as three younger versions of Amy, Rory and River when she was still Mels ran past them on their way to get to their seats. Little Amy had on a Spice World t-shirt while Mels was completely decked out in leopard print and platform shoes. Little Rory was as always just along for the ride.

Grown up Rory was smirking. "Oh I remember this! You had it bad." He teased River. "You thought Scary was the best, even had the dolls and stuff, and you must have watched the movie at least a thousand times."

"Dad," River said with a dangerous look. "Shut up."

Amy pointed a warning finger at her daughter, a rather cross look on her face, as she said, "Don't tell your Dad to shut up Melody that's rude."

"She's the one with the hair, right?" The Doctor asked with a knowing smirk. He looked over at his wife, pointedly checking out her hair, and nodded. "Yeah, I can see why."

River thumped her husband in the chest with the back of her hand. "I didn't have this hair back then." Then she grabbed his sonic screwdriver from the inside pocket of his jacket and walked off in search of her daughter. It was odd seeing her old self, laughing and enjoying things with younger versions of her parents. That was literary a different life, and yet the memories were so clear in River's mind. As they made their way through the sea of never ending preteens and young teens and miserable looking parents, River did her best to keep them away from where their younger selves were sitting. She just hoped Mia and Mels didn't run into each other. That would be far more than just awkward.

"Found them." Rory said suddenly.

"Where?" River asked as she looked through the sea of young faces.

Rory pointed to the stage. The music cues for Mama were just starting and the Girls had pulled some kids onto the stage for the song. There was Mia smiling and swaying beside Ginger Spice while Vincent looked love sick as he sat between Sporty and Posh.

Amy laughed. "Looks like Mia's found Granddad's favorite."

Rory blushed and then said, "Leave it to Vince to cozy up to the two linked to football."

When the music suddenly shifted to Spice Up Your Life the kids danced and sang along. This was the end of the first act. River and the others made their way towards the backstage area using a psychic paper backstage pass. When the kids came off stage their parents were waiting there to greet them. "Uhoh." Mia said with a sheepish grin when she saw her mother standing there with arms crossed and a rather unhappy look on her face. "Hi."

"Don't hi me." River said but that was as far as she got.

Behind them the Spice Girls had noticed the Doctor and five different voices called out, "Doctor!"

The Doctor blushed as every set of eyes belonging to his family turned to look at him. River shifted her weight to one foot and crossed her arms again as five different women hugged and kissed her husband. It was a clamor of Doctor this and Doctor that as the women gushed over him. It was more then evident that the Doctor had had past encounters with the women, which really shouldn't have surprised anyone. Where else would they have gotten the idea for a bigger on the inside tour bus in the movie?

"Daddy!" Mia said in awe. "You know the Spice Girls?"

Of course once they heard that Mia was the Doctor's daughter the girl got the royal treatment. Before River even had a chance to scold her Mia was whisked off to VIP seats with Vincent, taken to the dressing room after the show, and even got to ride on the bus with them back to their hotel. When they did finally make it back to the Tardis Mia was to hyper to pay attention to a proper scolding from her mother so River put it off until the next day. She made it absolutely clear to Mia that taking her vortex manipulator and taking off the way she did was unacceptable and Mia was punished accordingly.

Of course Mia being who she was took to heart the part about using her mother's vortex manipulator without permission. She totally missed that her mother's over all rule was not to go off on her own period. When Mia was thirteen she decided that best sixteenth birthday present she could give her football loving uncle-slash-best-friend-slash-companion was every single FA Cup match in history. In the early morning hours of Vincent's birthday while their parents were asleep Mia knocked on his door before slipping inside. It took a little convincing but honestly how could he pass this up? The two teens snuck out of the house and into the Tardis, which was parked in the back garden. First stop, 16th March 1872 Kennington Oval, the Royal Engineers verses the Wanderers.

When the Doctor woke up to find his Tardis and his daughter missing he was both displeased and very impressed. Once all four adults were awake it wasn't hard to figure out that this little trip was because of Vincent's birthday and if Vincent could go anywhere, any time, it would somehow involve football. It was Rory's idea to use Google. They humored him until he came across a picture from 15th April 1989, a semi-final match between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest. It was a picture from the riot that had taken place and he would have missed the two kids if not for the big blue box.

"Oh that child of mine is heading right into a properly sore bottom." River fumed as she looked at the picture and shook her head. With a list of follow up matches River used her vortex manipulator to pop off to Wembley Stadium, finally catching the two hooligans at the Manchester United/Liverpool match in 1996.

"Before you start telling us off, Melody." Vincent said as River escorted them back to where they'd left the Tardis. "This was all my idea."

"Vinny!" Mia said in shock and annoyance. "Rude!" She scolded. "You can't take credit for your own birthday present! That's not nice!"

River had to fight to keep a smile off her face while she swallowed a chuckle at the look on her brother's face. He'd been trying to cover for Mia but it had gone over the girl's head. "I am fully aware of who the mastermind behind this little outing was, Vincent. Some of these matches are known to have gotten very violent. The two of you could have been seriously hurt."

"I wanted to do something special for him, Mum." Mia said as she stepped into the Tardis.

"I know that my love." River replied. "And it was a brilliant idea, the perfect trip for our Vincent, but you went about it all wrong. Stealing the Tardis and going off without telling us where you were. You know better. Don't you?"

Mia sighed softly. "Yes."

River nodded. She told her brother to call their parents while she dealt with Mia in private. Once all the unpleasantness was done and over both kids were more then shocked when River landed the Tardis at the next match. When she turned to them and saw the looks on their faces she smiled, "I said it was a brilliant idea didn't I?"

That was the thing about River, and in all honestly it surprised her. River Song was a good mother. She could be the over protective strict Mum when she needed to be, because lord knew her husband was wrapped around Mia's little finger and hardly pull off strict, but she could also be the fun, incredible comforting Mum too. More often than not it was the latter role River fulfilled most.

They were curled into the corner of the huge leather couch in study of their country estate house, Mia cuddled as close to her Mum as she could get since she was much to old for laps. River had her arm around Mia, Mia's head rested on River's chest, while the elder Song read from her diary. "Demon's Run, when a good man goes to war. Night will fall and drown the sun, when a good man goes to war. Friendship dies and true love lies, night will fall and the dark will rise, when a good man goes to war. Demon's Run, but count the cost. The battle's won but the child is lost. When a good man goes to war."

"The good man is Daddy isn't it?" Mia asked through a soft yawn.

River smiled softly and nodded. "Best man I've ever known."

"Which one of you lied?" The sleepy girl asked.

"What do you mean my love?" River asked in reply.

Mia's eyes were as bright as ever even with sleep just moments away. "You said true love lies. You're Daddy's true love and he's yours. Which one of you lied?"

"Rule One, the Doctor lies and so do I." River answered. "We have too. Spoilers."

Mia thought about that and nodded. As she got older she understood more and more about things like keeping a timeline clean. "You weren't really lost, Mummy."

"I wasn't?" River asked with a curious look.

"Nope, cause you can't be lost when Daddy will always find you." Mia replied as she finally let her eyes close. "He'll always be there to save you."

River smiled and ducked her head so she could place a kiss on Mia's.

"Mummy?" Mia said softly.

"Yes my love?" River replied.

"Tell me about the Library."


	13. Chapter 13

She hadn't known why but her parents had been fighting. Her mother had taken on an expedition to the Library, which was a library that encompassed an entire planet. River was so excited about the project, but when she'd told the Doctor he was less than pleased. So they fought, and the Doctor left with muttered words about promising Clara a trip somewhere. River Song was always strong, but Mia knew her mother. She knew the Doctor's reaction had confused and hurt River, but it just wasn't her mother's way to let it show. For weeks River planned her trip to the Library, loosing herself in her work and in her daughter.

Mia had even gotten the chance to meet her mother's team, and she liked most of them. The man paying for the whole thing was a bit of a jerk, but most people like him where. Then one night her father knocked on the door. He was dressed in a suit, black tie, tails, and top hat, his hair freshly cut. Mia found herself being dropped off at her grandparents earlier than expected but that was ok because her parents weren't fighting anymore. Her mother was happy, thrilled because her Doctor was taking her someplace special. Her father smiled but there was something, a shadow of something, in his eyes. Why was Mia suddenly very leery of shadows?

A day later River and Mia were saying their goodbyes. River promising to let the girl have a proper look at the gift her father had given her, her very own sonic screwdriver, when she got back. "I'll be back soon my love." River said as she held her daughter's face in her hands. "You be a good girl." She kissed Mia's forehead. "I love you Sweetie."

Mia smiled. "I love you too, Mum. Be careful."

"Always my darling." River promised. She always promised to be careful, she always promised to be back as quick as she could, and River would never break a promise to her beloved little Amelia.

"The first time I met River Song I was still in my tenth regeneration." The Doctor began after waiting for the clock on the Ponds' mantel to stop chiming. He'd been standing there watching the time tick by for several minutes without a word until then. "It was on a planet called The Library. The whole planet was just that, the largest library in the universe, with every book ever written." He paused a moment, still unable to look at the Ponds who sat on the sofa behind him. "I was traveling with Donna Noble then, got a message to go to the Library on the psychic paper, so I did. We hadn't been there for long when a group of archeologists showed up. Wasn't very friendly to them I'm afraid."

Amy finally got to her feet and walked over to the Doctor. She made him look at her. The moment she'd laid eyes on him something hard and painful knotted up in her gut, and the more he stood there, the more he spoke, the more that knot moved up to her heart. "Doctor. River's on an expedition to a place called The Library. She was hired by the Lux Corporation."

The Doctor looked into his best friend's eyes, River's eyes were a pretty green so perfectly between the shade of Amy's and the shade of Rory's. His own eyes were fighting off tears. "The Library is infested with a creature called the Vashta Nerada." He explained what the Vashta Nerada were, he told them about the forest, the books, the people, all those saved people, and about CAL. Finally he said, his voice cracking, "It was the first time we'd met in my time line, the very beginning of our journey together, for me, but for River… She knocked me out. Hell of a right hook she has. By the time I came to she was…"

"You always met in opposite directions of time." Amy said, her hands trembling. She didn't like where this was going. "But that was before, Doctor, before Mia, before your timelines converged."

"I thought this would change. I thought it wouldn't happen. Everything in our life since Mia has changed, I thought this would too." The Doctor said softly. "I thought time could be rewritten."

"Doctor?" Amy said as she reached up to wipe away the tear that rolled down the Doctor's cheek. She held his face firmly in her hands. "Doctor, were is my daughter? Where is Melody?"

"I didn't know her." The Doctor said with such sadness that it broke Amy's heart. "I didn't know who she was, who she was to me, what she met to me, and the pain in her eyes…"

Rory finally joined them. He made Amy let the Doctor go, partly because he was worried she would hurt him. "River once told me that the worse day of her life would be the day you didn't know who she was. She said that when that day came…" Rory stumbled over his words. "She said when that day came she thought it might kill her."

"I'm sorry." The Doctor said, his voice low and cracked with emotion, his eyes flooded with sorrow and tears. His hearts were broken and they kept on breaking as he looked up at his Ponds. "I'm so very sorry."

"No!" Amy cried out in disbelief and pain. "No!" She repeated as she beat the Doctor's chest with her fists. "Melody is not dead! No!"

Sitting at the top of the stairs Mia listened to her father telling her grandparents that her mother was dead, that she'd sacrificed herself to save so many others. Her hearts stopped. Her mother was dead? No, no that wasn't possible. Anger flooded the girl. How could he let this happen? He was always there to save her! Why wasn't he doing something? He can't just let her mother die! He always saved her! She was all set to storm down there and give her father a piece of her mind when something he'd said struck her. He'd thought that somehow her birth would change things. Well, maybe it would. Maybe this time the Doctor couldn't save her. Maybe this time it would have to be her. Running up to her room Mia dug through her rucksack until she found what she needed. Using her physic paper she sent a simple message, 'I need you.'

As soon as the reply came back with a location Mia shoved the paper back into her rucksack. Then she checked to make sure she had everything she needed before climbing out her bedroom window. No one inside saw her unlock the Tardis and go inside, and since her mother was the one who taught her how to fly the Tardis no one heard her leave with it either. "Tell me about the Library." She told the Old Girl as she set course to the location on her paper. "Tell me everything, please." She begged the Tardis. "Tell me about my Mum. Help me, Old Girl, please help me save her!"

Seconds after the Tardis landed Jenny Song burst through the doors and ran up the stairs to her sister. I need you, had just been words on a piece of paper but she still knew something was very wrong, she'd still felt her little sister's distress. "What is it, Mia?"

"It's Mum, Jenny." Mia said as she began turning knobs and flipping levers. "She needs us."

That's all Jenny needed to hear. If their mother needed them then that was that. "Then lets go." Jenny said as she helped her sister fly the Tardis to the Library.

Mia told Jenny everything she'd heard their father telling their grandparents and then everything the Tardis had told her. The Tardis had shown Mia Ten's memories. She watched it play out like a television episode, and Mia shared that with Jenny. Both girls had tears in their eyes as they watched their mother's last words and the utter heartbreak on their father's face.

It hit Jenny hard because that was the first face she'd seen, Ten's face, her father's face. "Mia." She said softly, carefully. "Mum said not to change anything."

"She was telling Dad not to change anything." Mia replied. "Those memories were from Dad's old regeneration, his memories of her. That River didn't know, she didn't know about us, about me, she does now. It's different this time. We can help her Jenny. We can change things without messing it all up. Can't you see?"

"How?" Jenny asked. She was trying to be sensible. She didn't want her sister flying into a situation where they would end up watching their mother die, or even dying themselves. "How do we change things without messing it all up? Mia, if we screw up you could end up never being born!"

Mia walked around the Tardis control island, around and around as she talked it all out. "There's a few seconds after the process starts. In Dad's memory he couldn't see anything because there was a bright flash of light, it blinded him and he turned away from it. When he turned back, there was nothing left of her, no body, just a space suit and ash." She ran to her rucksack and dug around until she found what she was looking for, her mother's vortex manipulator. "We go in and get her body at just the right moment and we bring her back here."

"And then what?" Jenny asked softly. "We get her body but then what?"

Mia had to think, she began walking again, but then she stopped and looked up at her sister. "Do you know why Mum can't regenerate?"

"She gave up all her remaining regenerations to save Dad." Jenny said. It took a moment but what her sister was suggesting hit her like a blow to the chest. "You think we could do that?"

Mia nodded. "I think it's the only option we have."

"But you've never regenerated." Jenny pointed out. "Neither have I for that matter."

"There's a first time for everything." Mia said with a smirk that was pure River.

Jenny sighed. "And a last time. Mia, this is dangerous. Neither of us knows a bloody thing about regeneration."

"We have to try, Jenny!" Huge tears welled in Mia's eyes as her body began to tremble from all the emotion. "I don't want to loose my Mum! I can't loose my Mum! I can't! I need her! I love her and I won't loose her!"

"I know. I know. I don't want to loose her either." Jenny said softly as she pulled her sister into her arms and hugged her. She thought this all through as quickly as she could and then nodded. "Ok. Ok, we can do this."

"There's nothing you can do." River said, her voice quivering while her eyes sparkled with tears.

The Doctor tried again to reach the sonic screwdrivers but they were just out of his reach. "Let me do this!" He begged her. Something deep inside, something he couldn't explain or even understand screamed out that he needed to save her because if River died something inside of him would die too.

"If you die here it'll mean I've never met you." River replied. And if she never met him they wouldn't have had their life together, and they would have never had Mia. If he dies here he never regenerates, he never crash lands in Amy's back garden, and she's never even born. She couldn't let that happen. Oh her poor little girls, the thought of never seeing them again was killing her. She thought of her daughters, of Mia and Jenny, and her parents, and her brother, and about her Doctor. Her heart was breaking. It hurt worse knowing she would never see their beautiful faces, never see Mia grow into the amazing woman she knew she would be, then it did when the Doctor didn't know her.

His hearts were breaking in a way he just couldn't understand, at least not yet. "Time can be rewritten!"

"Not those times!" River said with a shake of her head. Her voice firm, her tone telling him just how important this was. "Not one line, don't you dare! It's ok. It's ok. It's not over for you. You'll see me again. You've got all of that to come. You and me, time and space, you watch us run."

"River you know my name." The Doctor said as he looked up at this remarkable woman as she put the headpiece on and picked up the cables. "You whispered my name in my ear. There is only one reason I would ever tell anyone my name. Only one time I could."

"Shh now." River whispered. "Spoilers."

The light was so blinding he had to turn away.

The girls appeared on either side of their mother, their hands clasped tight so the vortex manipulator could take them both. They each took one of River's hands, and the moment they did the pulse that was running through their mother's body ran through theirs. It added a boost that helped with the download and sure enough the overload triggered both of their regeneration cycles. The vortex manipulator beeped and moments before the blinding light went out the three of them were gone, leaving behind a space suit and ash.

As soon as they were back on the Tardis Jenny and Mia looked at each other and then down at their mother's body. They were both in pain as the current of energy from machine pulsed through every cell. "Ready?" Jenny asked softly. She was doing a much better job at hiding the amount of pain she felt than her sister, but she was use to being hurt. Mia wasn't. And yet Mia was trying, trying to embrace the pain and stay focused because none of this was about them, it was about their mother. "Mia?"

Mia nodded. There was fear in her eyes, and uncertainly. What if this didn't work? What if she'd put Jenny in danger? What if she ended up in a new body? Mia shook her head to clear it. This will work, her mother will be fine, Jenny will be fine, and she'll be herself when it was all over. It had to be like that, it just had to.

"Just let it happen, Mia. You'll know. You'll just know." Jenny reassured. "Focus on the energy and what we need to do and you'll just know the rest. We're Time Ladies, we can do this."

Mia nodded again. She closed her eyes and let the energy inside of her heal what needed healing. Then those bright green eyes opened and she forced all that extra energy out of her body and into her mother's. "Please Mummy." Mia whispered as she held River's hand in one hand, placed the other on River's bare stomach, and then leaned down to press her forehead against River's. "Please, don't go. I need you. Please. Please."

Bright gold energy spilled from both of River Song's daughters and into her until both girls lay unconscious beside her still unconscious body. Both girls were still out cold when River's mouth opened to expel a puff of gold energy as her body arched from force of regeneration, then she collapsed and took her first real breath since she connected those cables. It wasn't enough to trigger a full on regeneration so River was still River, all bright green eyes, curves, and massive blonde curls, but it was enough to heal all the damage and then some. She was alive. She was very much alive. Sometime later River awoke with a loud gasp. She sat bolt upright and looked around in confusion. She was on the Tardis. She was alive and on the Tardis. She was alive, on the floor of the Tardis in nothing but her bra and panties. What the hell happened?! Then she saw her girls laying beside her, still out cold, but clearly breathing, regeneration energy buzzing over their skin. "Oh my loves, you amazing, impossible girls, what have you done? "

The girls had hidden the Tardis, made her invisible, so while she waited for the Doctor and Donna to leave River changed into some clothes before retrieving her diary and sonic screwdriver from where the Doctor had left them. Then she took the Tardis into the vortex and held her there while she waited for her daughters to wake up. Her girls, her incredible girls, had just done the impossible.

The Doctor was livid. He was absolutely livid! He and Amy had gone upstairs to talk to Mia only to find her gone. When they came back downstairs Rory informed them that the Tardis was also gone. "She must have heard us." Amy said softly as she let Rory hold her. "She must have gone off to do something."

"She can't!" The Doctor had yelled. "It's a fixed point!"

"It was a fixed point!" Amy yelled back. "Before! Before her! Before you and River changed it all up by having her!"

He'd paced after that. He paced the house, the garden, and up and down the street. Anger, fear, and worry, all rolled over him like waves in a stormy sea while he clung to the tiniest little bit of hope. Could she do it? Could she save River, really save her not just download her into a bloody computer? Or would he end up loosing his wife and his daughter? He couldn't bare it. For Mia he could have bared loosing River, but loosing them both, he would truly become that mad man in a box. A dangerous grieving mad man with the power of a god. So yes, the Doctor was livid.

They heard the Tardis coming and everyone ran to the back garden to greet it. Once it was solid, the door opened and Mia stepped out. The Doctor charged her, getting in her face as he demanded, "What have you done!?" He gripped her tightly, almost painfully by the upper arms, "What have you done!?"

"What you couldn't, or wouldn't, do!" Mia replied. She had never seen her father this angry and it scared her. They glared at each other, their emotions almost audibly crackling between them, and then.

It was the most amazing sound in all the universe.

"Hello Sweetie."

The Doctor's head snapped up. His red-rimmed blood shot eyes locked on the figure framed in the doorway of his Tardis. She was in a long black, flowy dress with impossible to wear red high heels. Her hair was down and as loose as her curls would allow it. Her make up was done, her eyes bright and her smile smug. She was beautiful. "River? How?"

"Our girls." River said softly as she stepped down from the Tardis and walked over to her husband. She took hold of his wrists, making him let go of Mia, and then turned him so they were standing face to face. "It's alright my love. I'm alright."

The Doctor raised his hands to cup her face and gasped. "You're humming River! Your body is humming with regeneration energy!"

"It was Mia's idea." Jenny said as she joined everyone. "All of it, saving Mum, knowing when to get her and how to save her, it was all Mia's idea."

"She's rewritten history." River said proudly. "Well, maybe not a rewrite so much as she's started a squeal."

Mia stood there looking a little frightened after her father's rather rough welcome. "I couldn't loose my Mum. I had to do something!"

Amy rushed to her and pulled the girl into her arms. "You did good, love. You did really good."

"You regenerated?" The Doctor asked as he turned to look at Mia.

"No." Mia said. "Obviously, same face, we did what Mum did in Berlin."

"Before you panic and get angry." River said, catching her husband by the arm before he could charge at Mia again. "They're both fine. They both have plenty of energy left and apparently their little stunt jumped my battery." She pulled the Doctor close again. "We're good, Doctor. We're all good."

"Oh River." The Doctor breathed out as he let his wife wrap him in her arms. He clung to her as if life depended on it. "I remember it the same way, I still remember you dying."

"You had too." Mia said from the safety of her Nan's arms. "Everything had to happen just the way it happened. His future is still Mum's past, that Doctor, and younger you, thinking she's dead is a fixed point, we had to let it happen that way so there would be no paradox."

"But what did I save to CAL if you're still alive?" The Doctor asked.

"An echo." River answered. "A cyber reprint. Someone to give comfort to those who couldn't be saved."

There was a long moment of silence while everyone let emotions catch up to them and even out before things went on. It was Amy who broke the silence by saying, "Melody."

"Yes Mother?" River replied softly.

"Stay the hell away from spacesuits!" Amy scolded before letting go of Mia so she could pull River into her arms.

River laughed as she returned her mother's embrace.

Rory smiled, he would get his moment later. "You three must be starving, regenerating does that. I think we have some custard in the fridge. Might be able to find a fish finger or two."

Mia crinkled her nose and then asked, "How about peanut butter and curry?"

"Coffee and corn flakes!" Jenny said as she followed her family inside.

River and the Doctor lingered in the garden.

"River." The Doctor said softly. "I love you."

"I know Sweetie. I've always known even when you didn't." River replied. "I love you too." She added before kissing him. When they pulled apart she smiled at him and said, "You were right. Our daughter is amazing."

"She is." The Doctor agreed. "Just like her mother."


End file.
